Buckwheat is a popular cereal crop that appeared in Rus' in the 7th century. It is rich in vegetable protein and many valuable vitamins, which makes it especially popular among adherents of a healthy diet. In today’s material we will figure out how to choose the right grain and what to cook from it.
Types and varieties
On the shelves of modern stores there is such a wide range of this product that an ignorant housewife can easily make the wrong choice. To avoid annoying mistakes, you need to find out what kind of buckwheat is.
Yadritsa is the largest variety, produced from whole grains by freeing them from the husk. It can be green or fried and is divided into grades I, II and III. It makes a crumbly porridge.
Prodel is a cheaper variety of cereal obtained from crushed grain. It contains less vitamins and fiber and is used for cooking viscous porridges.
In addition to kernels and prodel, you can find so-called Smolensk grains and buckwheat flakes on sale. These varieties do not require long-term heat treatment and serve as an excellent basis for preparing viscous porridges.
How to determine the quality of buckwheat
Buckwheat is considered a unique plant because weeds do not grow next to it, and buckwheat itself is not susceptible to pest attacks. In addition, since ancient times, mankind has known the beneficial qualities of this cereal, which includes a huge amount of vitamins, minerals and organic substances, and amino acids.
Buckwheat products
By various methods of processing buckwheat grain, several types of products are obtained from it:
- kernel cereal (whole grain);
- prodel (crushed grain);
- buckwheat flakes (steamed and flattened grain);
- buckwheat flour (finely ground cereal);
- green buckwheat (unprocessed raw grain).
All types of products obtained from buckwheat grain retain their beneficial qualities, but among them, green grains that have not undergone any processing are considered the most saturated with vitamins and minerals.
How to choose buckwheat correctly so that it has good quality characteristics and is beneficial for the human body. To do this you need to follow simple rules.
First, pay attention to the product packaging. It is advisable to choose buckwheat in a plastic bag or paper package with a transparent window to evaluate the appearance of the product. Make sure that the packaging is intact, otherwise the grain inside may become damp.
The variety of buckwheat according to GOST must be indicated on the packaging. Now buckwheat is subject to GOST R 55290-2012, according to which buckwheat is divided into four grades - highest, first, second, third, but the product is not subdivided by grade. Buckwheat with the “Elite” and “Premium” varieties does not exist, this is nothing more than an advertising ploy by the manufacturer.
In addition to GOST, the packaging is marked with the following information:
- date of manufacture;
- name and address of the manufacturer;
- Net weight;
- best before date;
- information about the nutritional value of the product.
- Now it’s worth paying attention to the appearance of the cereal:
- The color of buckwheat according to GOST varies from light cream to all shades of brown. During prolonged heat treatment, the grain becomes dark brown in color and loses most of its vitamins and minerals, so the most useful product will be a pale cream-colored grain with a slight greenish tint, which will mean that it is not steamed or fried.
- Integrity of buckwheat kernels - if we are talking about the kernel, then the majority of the grains should be whole, a small percentage of chopped kernels is allowed.
- The product obtained after crushing the cereal is divided into two fractions - large, the size of half a grain or more, and small, size less than half a grain.
- The presence of weed impurities in the form of husks, stems, leaves, small litter, etc. is not allowed in premium and first grade cereals. Buckwheat of the second grade can contain from 5 to 7% of impurities, in the third - up to 10% of foreign substances.
- Good quality buckwheat does not contain an outer shell of the kernel and is well exfoliated.
- The grain should not show signs of damage by pests, and the presence of insects in the packaging of buckwheat is strictly prohibited.
If you purchase loose cereal, then evaluate its smell, which should not be musty or moldy. Fresh buckwheat has a fresh, pleasant smell, characteristic of this product.
At home, pour the cereal from industrial packaging into a glass, hermetically sealed container, as it easily absorbs extraneous odors and moisture. It is best to store grain in a dry, dark and cool place.
You need to choose buckwheat carefully in order to buy a quality product and prepare a tasty and healthy dish from it.
Buckwheat - “the queen of cereals” The grain, which came to us from Greece, quickly gained great popularity among Russians for its pleasant taste and range of beneficial properties. Who is recommended to include buckwheat in their diet? Buckwheat can be eaten by everyone - from babies who are introduced to their first complementary foods to the elderly:
- The high protein content in cereals helps balance the diet of vegetarians and people on a diet, since buckwheat can be used to replace meat dishes.
- The low carbohydrate content of buckwheat makes it an indispensable product for those who want to lose weight and for people with diabetes.
- The fiber present in grains has a beneficial effect on the digestion process and helps get rid of intestinal problems.
- Buckwheat is a storehouse of vitamins and minerals. B vitamins normalize metabolic and digestive processes, vitamin P is involved in regulating the functioning of the heart, blood vessels and thyroid gland, and has a bactericidal effect.
Folic acid in buckwheat has a beneficial effect on the development of the central nervous system of the fetus in pregnant women, and iron helps them maintain hemoglobin in the blood at a normal level, which is also very important for the fetus.
The amino acids in buckwheat have a good effect on the hormonal levels of the male body and maintain male potency at a high level, and protein provides additional energy, which is very important for athletes.
Omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acid is beneficial for all categories, and especially for older people.
Green buckwheat is increasingly “coming into fashion”, since it is in this unprocessed grain that the maximum concentration of nutrients is observed, and abroad it is even sold in pharmacies as a medicinal and dietary product.
The title of “queen of cereals” was given to buckwheat not only for its benefits, but also for its widespread use in cooking, since this cereal can be used to prepare first courses, porridges, side dishes, desserts; their buckwheat flour is used in baking. Even the husk obtained after cleaning the grain is used - it is used to fill pillows, which have a healing effect.
The right choice of buckwheat and regular inclusion of dishes from it in the human diet helps maintain health and prolong active life.
Recommendations for selection
Back in 1974, a technological law was developed regulating the quality of buckwheat. GOST of that time is still in force and most manufacturers adhere to it. Therefore, when choosing a product, you need to check whether such information is indicated on the packaging.
An important criterion for assessing the quality of a product is the country of origin. Imported grains grown in China have a rich brown hue and high moisture content. It is not stored as long as its domestic counterpart, and is inferior in quality.
Our stores mainly offer packaged buckwheat. And the factory packaging often does not allow us to adequately assess its contents. Therefore, when you bring a purchased product home, you need to immediately print it out and check whether it has mold or a musty smell. If you discover that a spoiled product is hidden behind a beautiful wrapper, you have every right to return it to the seller. The wholesale price of buckwheat for 1 kg starts from 45-50 rubles. Having figured out how to choose cereal, you can begin to consider recipes for dishes that can be prepared from it.
How to correctly assess the quality and buy buckwheat
Integrity of packaging material
Very often, buckwheat is sold in packaging (cellophane best protects from moisture). Be sure to check for breaks in it - a very common occurrence.
Pay attention to the weight indicated on the packaging: often the buyer compares packages with different weights of 1000g and 900g. Keep this marketing trick in mind when comparing prices.
You won’t see any impurities or debris in a bag of high-quality buckwheat. This must be a well-cleaned grain, and the grains themselves must be the same size as a result of careful calibration using modern equipment.
Type and color are a very important indicator when choosing
The appearance and color of the grains will tell you a lot. If buckwheat is made from steamed buckwheat grains, then its color is brown in different shades. This is a fast-cooking cereal, the taste will be more delicate, the porridge will be more crumbly, but as a result of high-temperature processing at the production stage, its beneficial properties are somewhat reduced.
If buckwheat is made from unsteamed grain, then its color is pale, creamy with a slight yellowish or greenish tint. This type of cereal will take longer to cook, but the nutrients in it will be preserved as much as possible.
High-quality buckwheat has a uniform color: its grains have smooth edges and do not differ in color. In this case, the color of the edges of the grains is lighter than that of the core.
Dark brown, processed even to the point of reddishness, is a cereal that has significantly lost its beneficial properties. Most often it is obtained on small farms, where they cannot carry out high-quality modern processing and instead of steaming it is fried. The edges of the grains here, on the contrary, may have a darker color than the core.
If grains are present, both light and dark, this means that different types of grains are mixed, and they will not behave the same when cooked.
We evaluate by smell and taste
You also need to check the quality by smell and taste. The smell should be characteristic of buckwheat: not moldy or musty, without other foreign inclusions. The correct taste is not sour or bitter, and also without other foreign tastes. At the slightest suspicion of a defect, take it back to the store. In any case, don't use it.
Porridge with vegetables
This unusual and very tasty dish can be both a complete meal and an excellent side dish for meat or poultry. It is cooked in the oven, thanks to which almost all useful vitamins and microelements are preserved. To feed it to your family, you will need:
- 200 g buckwheat kernels.
- 500 ml filtered water.
- 100 g sweet pepper.
- 50 g carrots.
- 50 g onion.
- Salt, spices and vegetable oil.
First of all, you need to tackle the vegetables. They are cleaned, rinsed and crushed, and then sautéed in a small amount of vegetable oil and transferred to a fireproof container. Pre-sorted and washed cereals are also sent there. All this is salted, seasoned, filled with water, covered with foil and cooked at 180-200 0C for 45-50 minutes.
Application of buckwheat
Buckwheat is used not only in cooking. The plant has medicinal properties and is often used in traditional medicine recipes; buckwheat is grown as a green manure and as a fodder crop.
In medicine
A lot of rutin is obtained from the upper part of flowering plants, which is used in the treatment of diseases accompanied by increased fragility and permeability of blood vessels. There is also a lot of fagopirin and rutin in young leaves, a decoction or infusion of which is recommended for the treatment of hypertension, scarlet fever, measles, atherosclerosis and diathesis. Buckwheat contains a lot of lecithin, which allows it to be used for diseases of the vascular and nervous system, kidneys and liver.
Other benefits of buckwheat:
- The decoction is used for dry coughs and colds;
- Buckwheat seeds are boiled and used as a remedy for large blood loss;
- a large amount of potassium and iron makes it possible to use buckwheat porridge for radiation sickness to prevent the absorption of isotopes;
- the low glycemic index and balanced composition make buckwheat indispensable for diabetes;
- for eczema and other skin diseases, poultices made from buckwheat flour help well;
- Fresh buckwheat leaves can be applied to wounds and abscesses.
Buckwheat honey has also found application in medicine: it is used for atherosclerosis, anemia, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and nervous system, and colds.
However, the plant has both benefits and harm to health. When consuming buckwheat leaves and shoots, you need to make sure that they were collected in an environmentally friendly place and do not have traces of chemical fertilizers or poisons. Young shoots can cause acute digestive upset if insufficient heat treatment and, less commonly, allergies. Buckwheat seeds purchased for home germination must also be clean and suitable for consumption. If you buy seed at the gardening market, there is a high chance of getting food poisoning from the chemicals used to treat seeds against diseases and fungi.
In agriculture
In agricultural areas you can often see buckwheat growing as green manure. Benefits of using the plant:
- short growing season;
- powerful root system, loosening and structuring the soil;
- soil enrichment with nitrogen and potassium;
- soil health and microflora improvement;
- natural displacement of weeds;
- natural shading and loosening of the earth (under trees, in vineyards);
- improving the physical qualities of the soil.
It is better to plant buckwheat as green manure in May using the narrow-row method at a rate of about 150 g of seeds per 10 sq.m. But depending on the purpose and conditions, buckwheat seeds are sown both before winter (5-9 weeks before cold weather) and in summer. To kill weeds in flower beds, buckwheat can be sown throughout the season.
In animal husbandry
For cattle and small domestic animals, buckwheat straw, rich in fiber, vitamins, and proteins, is a good bedding. In terms of nutritional qualities, buckwheat straw is not inferior to oat straw. Fattening animals can be fed up to 3-4 kg per day. Buckwheat seeds must be present in the diet of poultry during the winter months, when there is a lack of vitamins and minerals, but the grain must be given in steamed and crushed form. It is also recommended to feed buckwheat in small quantities to rabbits and goats (especially dwarf breeds), sheep, and pigs. Waste from buckwheat production is fed to cattle.
Buckwheat is indispensable in the diet of dogs and cats with gastrointestinal diseases, during dietary nutrition, after operations and long-term treatment with antibiotics. The grain is also used in feed mixtures for ornamental birds, rodents and even fish.
In cooking
Buckwheat is sold in stores as:
- kernels (there are quick-cooking and ordinary kernels) or heat-treated cereals;
- cereal;
- done;
- flour;
- green cereal.
Cereals used for cooking:
- porridge;
- soups;
- cutlets;
- casseroles.
Buckwheat flour is used in baking pancakes, pies, various biscuits, cookies, as well as for making pasta and bread. Green cereals are often purchased for sprouting and subsequent use in salads, nutritious drinks, raw food dishes and diet foods.
OKPD code for buckwheat 2
In the OKPD 2 classifier (All-Russian classifier of products by type of economic activity), which came into force on May 1, 2019, buckwheat is assigned code 10.61.32.113.
Milk porridge
Those who have a large family will probably find the recipe below useful. Buckwheat makes a very tasty and, most importantly, healthy milk porridge, which will be an excellent breakfast for adults and little eaters. To serve it for your morning meal, you will need:
The sorted and washed cereals are poured into a suitable container, filled with salted water and placed in the microwave for seven minutes. After the designated time has passed, the finished porridge is sweetened and supplemented with boiled milk.
Pancakes
Buckwheat groats can be not only the basis for preparing porridges, but also the secret component of fluffy sweet pancakes. To treat your loved ones to extraordinary pancakes you will need:
To begin, beat salted eggs with honey and milk. Baking powder, sifted flour, pureed porridge and chopped apple are gradually introduced into the resulting mass. All this is thoroughly mixed and fried in portions in hot vegetable oil.
Buckwheat porridge with milk
With the onset of school everyday life, parents are increasingly asking the question: “What to feed the child in order to restore his wasted emotional and physical strength.” And here everyone is simply obliged to remember such healthy and familiar buckwheat porridge from childhood. True, adults will have to try to ensure that the child does not refuse it. And for this, the mother (or another loved one) must become a culinary expert and, most importantly, understand all the usefulness of this food product.
But still, for many children, buckwheat porridge with milk remains their favorite food. And many mothers think that such porridge is very healthy. But nutritionists consider these two products completely incompatible. And that's why.
The fact is that buckwheat, due to the large amount of carbohydrates, is considered a difficult to digest product. To process buckwheat you need only enzymes. And for the digestion of milk - others. The iron contained in buckwheat can interfere with the absorption of calcium from milk.
Therefore, in order for buckwheat to be well absorbed and give a lot of strength to your child, it is better to eat it with vegetable or butter. Serving buckwheat porridge this way will better facilitate its breakdown and absorption of the cereal’s beneficial substances.
Porridge with meat and vegetables
This tasty and nutritious dish will fit harmoniously into your everyday menu. It is a successful combination of meat, cereals and vegetables, which means it will surely appeal to lovers of simple homemade food. To prepare it specifically for lunch or dinner, you will need:
The pre-washed and dried meat is cut into not too small pieces and fried in hot oil. When it is browned, it is supplemented with carrots, onions and garlic. At the next stage, meat and vegetables are poured with a small amount of filtered water and simmered over low heat. Fifteen minutes before the end of the heat treatment, pour the washed buckwheat, salt and seasonings into a common bowl. All this is brought to full readiness, and then laid out on plates and served hot.
Composition of buckwheat
Buckwheat is an indispensable component of a healthy diet in our country; it contains: easily digestible proteins, carbohydrates, and a small amount of fat. It also contains essential amino acids (lysine and arginine), iron, calcium, phosphorus, iodine, zinc, copper, magnesium, malic, oxalic and citric acids, fiber and dietary fiber. Almost the entire group of vitamins B is represented here, as well as PP and P (rutin).
Casserole with cottage cheese
This sweet dish will be a good breakfast for anyone who loves oven-cooked food. To make this casserole yourself you will need:
The sorted and washed cereals are poured into salted boiling water and boiled until tender. The resulting crumbly porridge is cooled and supplemented with cottage cheese, sour cream, sugar, steamed raisins, chopped apples and beaten egg. All this is mixed, transferred to a greased form and baked at moderate temperature for about a quarter of an hour.
Buckwheat soup
Yadritsa gives first courses not only a special taste, but also additional nutritional value. To cook a rich and easily digestible lunch for yourself and your family, you will need:
First you need to do the chicken. It is washed and boiled in salted boiling water. After some time, the resulting broth is supplemented with potato slices, sautéed vegetables and fried cereals. All this is seasoned, brought to readiness and sprinkled with chopped herbs.
Composition of buckwheat
Buckwheat is one of those food products that, having a lot of substances useful for the human body, do not lose them in full during heat treatment. Therefore, it is worth noting the entire chemical composition of buckwheat in order to understand its beneficial effects on the body. Both fresh and cooked cereals (some raw foodists consume soggy grains) contain:
- water;
- tocopherol vitamins - alpha and gamma (in other words, healthy vitamin E);
- B vitamins;
- vitamin A and beta-carotene;
- vitamins PP;
- pure vitamin P (or rutin);
- from mineral substances, titanium, silicon, fluorine, sulfur, chromium, phosphorus, copper, zinc, molybdenum, cobalt, nickel, potassium, calcium, magnesium, manganese, sodium, iron, iodine, selenium are observed;
- important amino acids;
- natural citric and malic acid;
- proteins (per 100 g are about 13 g);
- fats (only 3.3 g), represented by the polyunsaturated form;
- long-digesting carbohydrates (approximately 57 g).
Buckwheat is a low-calorie product, so the level of energy value depends only on the additions to the porridge and varies from 132 (cooked in water) to 308 (with the addition of butter) calories.
