If I had to write to you how many times we got inquiries about buckwheat groats with different way of naming it... Sometimes customers asks about buckwheat hulled raw (also de-hulled form is used) and others asks about unroasted kernels of buckwheat or even calling it green or natural buckwheat without the husk. No customer is wrong, everyone just asks ... about the same product. But what exactly is buckwheat and how to name it correctly in order to avoid confusion?
What is Buckwheat?
Despite its name, buckwheat (L. fa*gopyrum esculentum) is not related to wheat. Is is not even a cereal, nor even a member of the grass family. Buckwheat belongs to the Polygonaceae family of plant. It is considered a pseudo-cereal as it is consumed in the same way as cereal grains. Because it has no relation to wheat, buckwheat is gluten-free product. Gluten is a protein found in wheat and few other cereals, but it is not found in seeds of flowering plants - like buckwheat. However, cross-contamination of gluten can appear if buckwheat is processed in a facility that also process gluten containing products (whether at farmers site or at producers site) - that's why it is very important to source your buckwheat from a facility that is really gluten-free.
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Buckwheat was cultivated probably more than 5000 years ago in Central Asia and from there it spread to Europe and other countries. Due to its origin, it is sometimes called an ancient grain. It was a common crop back in the 19th century on many continents, until the introduction of nitrogen fertilizers in the 20th century, which increased the production of maize and wheat. As a result, these crops were sown in the fields formerly used for buckwheat, and the production of buckwheat dramatically fell (like in North America), although its production is still important for many countries. Today, the largest producers of buckwheat in the world are China and Russia, followed by Ukraine, Poland, Kazakhstan and The United States.
What's the difference between Kasha vs Raw Buckwheat Groats?
Kasha is simply buckwheat groats that have been roasted (or toasted) while Raw Buckwheat Groats are groats that have not been subjected to a thermal process. You can always tell the difference between both types by the color and the aroma. Kasha is a much darker reddish-brown color and has a strong - roasted flavor. Raw buckwheat is mostly green, but also very light brown can be seen and has not much flavor at all.
The primary processing of both buckwheat groats and kasha is the same, the only difference is the final thermal process which only applies to kasha. To prepare both types of buckwheat (whether it is kasha or raw buckwheat groats), we clean the raw buckwheat (still with the husk) and then remove the husk from the raw buckwheat through the de-hulling process, finally we clean finished groats again, removing any possible contamination (such as husks, weeds, organic impurities, etc.) and then separate and collect broken buckwheat too, which can be used as a standalone product. After this stage, the raw buckwheat groats is ready. If we would like to prepare kasha, we would have to perform a roasting process (or toasting process).
When I refer to Raw Buckwheat Groats, remember there other used names for the same product e.g. Buckwheat Hulled Raw, Buckwheat Hulled Green, Buckwheat Hulled Unroasted, Buckwheat Hulled White or simply Buckwheat Groats and as long as the customer is sure what product he wants - we have no problem with different names for the buckwheat itself. In general, we use buckwheat groats or hulled buckwheat green names ourselves- it's just easier for us to distinguish it from kasha.
Ok and What About Broken Buckwheat Groats?
If you think we are done writing about buckwheat types - hold on a moment 😎. There is another type of groats. It is the broken buckwheat groats (described briefly above in the production process). Since it is a broken groat, most customers prefer to minimize it content in regular buckwheat groats so the product looks nice for their final customers.
Since we are able to separate these broken groats from the regular groats (most of it but not all) - this is exactly what we do, and then we clean already separated broken groats again and we also deliver this product to our customers (it is regularly significantly cheaper than regular groats) and it is perfect to milling.
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Ok, now its finally enough about buckwheat itself and its types 🤓👂 so let us know if it was interesting and, most of all, do you know how will you call buckwheat groats next time you'll ask for it🤓?
