Buckwheat Nutrition facts

Buckwheat

Buckwheat is neither a cereal grain nor related to wheat. It is, in fact, a dicotyledon seed but treated in a similar way as any other common cereal grains.
Binomially, it belongs to the family of Polygonaceae, which also includes sorrel, rhubarb, Japanese knotweed, etc. The Scientific name is Fagopyrum esculentum.
Buckwheat crop was first cultivated in the high plains of southeastern China and the Himalayas centuries ago, where it was the staple food of the inhabitants, much before rice and other cereal grains gradually replaced its cultivation.
Buckwheat crop provided much-needed essential nutrients, protein, fats, and minerals to the local inhabitants during early civilization times, enabling them to thrive well under inhospitable terrains. Lately, a renewed interest is growing in its revival as a mainstream crop among the food and nutrition scientists.
Common buckwheat, much similar to quinoa, is not a novel cereal grain as one might think, but just an old crop. It is a short-season, dicotyledon (like pulses/beans) crop and cultivated as an annual, flowering herb, which grows well even under less than optimum soil and moisture conditions. Frost, however, could prove detrimental to its survival.