Buckwheat facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Common buckwheat |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | |
| Division: | |
| Class: | |
| Order: | |
| Family: | |
| Genus: |
Fagopyrum
|
| Binomial name | |
| Fagopyrum esculentum |
|
Buckwheat (or common buckwheat) is a plant whose seeds may be used as a cereal. Buckwheat is not a true grass. It is not related to wheat, because wheat is a true grass, and buckwheat is not.
Buckwheat seeds look like small beech tree seeds. Both seeds have three sides. Beech is also called buck, which is how buckwheat got its name.
Instead, buckwheat is related to sorrel, knotweed, and rhubarb. Buckwheat is referred to as a pseudocereal because its seeds are used in cooking the same as cereals, because they have complex carbohydrates.
The cultivation of buckwheat grain declined sharply in the 20th century with the adoption of nitrogen fertilizer which increased the productivity of other staples.
Images for kids
-
Buckwheat, illustration from the Japanese agricultural encyclopedia Seikei Zusetsu (1804)
-
Buckwheat with flowers, ripe and unripe seeds
-
Exhibition of Flower Festival, Taiwan
-
Buckwheat flour
-
Buckwheat (left), buckwheat flakes (fast cooking) (right), and crispbread made of buckwheat flour.
-
Black buckwheat tea (黑苦荞茶) produced in Sichuan Province, China
-
Buckwheat hulls
-
Field of buckwheat in Bumthang (Bhutan)
-
Common buckwheat in flower
-
Seed and withered flower of buckwheat
-
Buckwheat grain
-
Soba noodles made from buckwheat flour
-
Kuttu ke pakore, a snack made from buckwheat flour, India
-
Grechka of Russia and Ukraine and Belarus
.jpg)
See also
In Spanish: Alforfón o trigo sarraceno para niños
