Buckwheat is gluten-free and therefore very popular with many people. You can find out how to plant buckwheat and then process it here.
Buckwheat is not a cereal
The buckwheat, which grows to a height of about 60 centimetres, does not belong to the grain varieties, as is often wrongly assumed, but to the strongly flowering knotweed plants. Even if it is sown and harvested like grain in the main growing regions. In the following, we explain how you can grow, harvest and process buckwheat yourself.
» Sowing
In the garden you can only sow the extremely easy-care buckwheat in spring (end of May, after the frosty days) in prepared rows of seeds and water them a little. It then needs neither fertilizer nor any special plant protection, it grows practically all by itself and extremely quickly. However, buckwheat can only develop through the fertilization of insects. However, this is made somewhat more difficult due to a strong flower development. This means that not all flowers can be pollinated by bees.
» Harvest
The buckwheat will be ready to harvest in a maximum of three months. However, harvesting by hand is a bit tedious because not all grains ripen at the same time. It is therefore ideal to wait for a harvest time when at least 3/4 of the grains are ripe.
» Processing
Buckwheat usually has to be taken to the mill, where it is first peeled and then ground. However, this work can also be done easily with a household grain mill. You can then use the high-quality, gluten-free buckwheat flour to make pasta and groats, among other things. Buckwheat pancakes and buckwheat porridge for toddlers are also very popular.
By the way: The high-protein grains of buckwheat can even be compared to high-quality animal protein, as recent research by the Technical University of Munich-Weihenstephan has shown.