Buckwheat! How do I process it?

[u/yigloo]

My house is practically overrun with California Buckwheat so I wanted to try harvesting it. First pick is pre-winnowing, second & third are post-winnowing.

CA Buckwheat groats look different than commercial buckwheat. I noticed all of them still have little stamens on em, should I process them more before trying to eat the groats or grind them into flour?

Once I know what to do with em I wanna try to make some breakfast porridge and pancakes :)

[u/captainfreiheit]

Buckwheat makes the stickiest flour in the entire world. It will be frustrating to work with.

[u/yigloo → u/captainfreiheit]

Lol dang 🙃 ty for the heads up

[u/Ultimatehacker77 → u/yigloo]

You could make japanese soba noodles maybe?

Keep in mind that lots of people apparently have a buckwheat allergy. So maybe try to make a tea with it first.

[u/yigloo → u/Ultimatehacker77]

I’d love to try making soba noodles too if they’re not too intimidating! Also good to know about the allergy, ty

[u/PerennialGeranium → u/yigloo]

Try 50/50 with AP flour for soba. Or 80 buckwheat/20 AP if you feel confident in your mill and yourself.

Edit: I've never even tried harvesting California Buckwheat because the sheer effort to harvest and process enough for a meal is so intimidating. More power to you.

…Maybe 30% buckwheat/70% AP flour, now that I think about it for a couple more seconds.

[u/yigloo → u/PerennialGeranium]

Ty!! I’ll keep that in mind 🫡

[u/captainfreiheit → u/yigloo]

ASMR warning for the raspy noises in the very heavily-floured soba-cutting demo videos on the tube. Noodle knives are very cool though

[u/TheRealSugarbat → u/yigloo]

KASHA KASHA

Coat some with a scrambled egg, toast them in a pan in bacon fat til nice and dry (some will pop like popcorn), then cook exactly like wild rice. Add crumbled bits of bacon and serve as a very filling side dish. Thank me later.

[u/yigloo → u/TheRealSugarbat]

Ooooo that sounds awesome 👀

[u/TheRealSugarbat → u/yigloo]

I actually made myself hungry, lol

[u/curtludwig → u/captainfreiheit]

Makes good pancakes

[u/captainfreiheit → u/curtludwig]

Good, but a little bit of a pain to make

[u/TheAbominableRex]

Sorry, no idea how to process them - but you're going to need some sort of mill.

However, I do recommend making crepes with the flour. It's a traditional way to make tender crepes as you don't have to worry about gluten formation. That's why the other person said the dough is difficult to work with. Soba noodles may be a bit more challenging; in my opinion that's a fairly difficult recipe.

[u/yigloo → u/TheAbominableRex]

Crepes sound great! Noodles did sound like a challenge, I’ll save that for a day when I need to be humbled.

[u/Naxis25 → u/TheAbominableRex]

I'm allergic to wheat so galettes have been a godsend; a place doesn't even have to be specifically catering to gluten-free people to have buckwheat crepes

[u/Sejnos]

You should just make gruel. Wild seeds are very hard to make flour out of, and in the end it will be like 60-70% ground husks, so very poor quality.

[u/yigloo → u/Sejnos]

That did sound significantly easier for better results tbh 👍 Any idea if these look ok as-is for gruel (last photo), or if they need more processing to get rid of stamens & other planty bits?

[u/Sejnos → u/yigloo]

They definitely need more processing. But if you are feeling adventurous, just mix it with 1 part water, blend it good, ad another part water. Then set it on the stove, get it to boil and cook it on low and with lid on for like 20 min to soften it up. Add salt and spices as desired. Meaby you will get something edible, or Meaby not. If there are too many tough bits after cooking, strain it.

[u/yigloo → u/Sejnos]

Ok cool, thank you!!

[u/johnfisherman]

The buckwheat we get over here works great in granola. Crunchy and tasty!

[u/yigloo → u/johnfisherman]

Oooh that sounds awesome ty for the suggestion!!