by Dina Rozin

Buckwheat is my trusted friend and I am taking this opportunity to share my loyal, unshakable fondness for this ancient grain. While buckwheat has been on the back burner for a while, it is worth noting that it has recently been given greater attention by the Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Sustainable Agricultural Systems (SAS). SAS is supporting a Soil to Society project that will work on pairing soil management practices with increased nutritional value of selected crops. Buckwheat is one of the six crops that SAS will focus on. This is great news for buckwheat and leads me to share why I think buckwheat is ready to take center stage. 

 When I think of buckwheat I am mostly referring to roasted buckwheat groats and the dish known as “kasha,” which means porridge in Russian. Other buckwheat crop incarnations never cease to amaze me, yet my priority is to share buckwheat (kasha) as a cultural staple of my native land. After 30+ years living in the US, it remains a comfort food as well as a nutritious meal. It is neither exotic nor expensive. As a child, I often ate “grechnevaya kasha” hot for breakfast, with butter, milk and sugar. 

In my cuisine, buckwheat is both respected and taken for granted. An American holds peanut butter or grits to a similar status. The observations I will share reflect the average Russian and Russian immigrants’ relationship with buckwheat, including suggested recipes to explore. The accounts of buckwheat that follow come from interviewing a dozen different people. In return, I heard many diverse experiences with buckwheat, or "kasha." 

The coziest reflection came from two families who had observed and continued the traditions of their grandmothers. These grandmothers used to swaddle a cast iron pot of kasha in blankets as part of the cooking process. If you are bewildered by this method, there is an explanation. While kasha’s preparation is straightforward in that you just add water, the process can take on a ritual format. In this more involved process you don’t just cook groats in water for 15 minutes, instead you boil for a few minutes, remove them from the cooktop and then swaddle in some sort of insulated package until the next morning. This overnight method allows the buckwheat groats to swell at an unhurried pace, resulting in a delightful shape and texture.

The following account provided by Raya refers to the method described above. Raya currently lives in New Hampshire but grew up in St. Petersburg, Russia, like myself. She shared that her “experiences with buckwheat have two parts: Russian and American stories.”

“My grandmother lived with us (my parents and brother) and did most of the cooking for the family. I remember sitting with her in the evening in the kitchen and sifting buckwheat - there were always stones and different grains mixed in. We would sit together and pick them out by hand. Then my grandmother would wash the grains and cook them a bit in the heavy iron pot before wrapping the pot in blankets and leaving it for the night. We went to sleep with the smell of buckwheat in the apartment and woke up to eat it for breakfast. It would still be warm in the blankets. It was eaten as a cereal, with a bit of butter, milk, or farmer cheese. My personal favorite was always butter and farmer cheese mixed into the buckwheat.”

“My ex-husband's family is from Poland. They also ate buckwheat, but for them, it was a grain that went with the meat. They would pour gravy over it and serve it for dinner. At first I found this to be really strange, but I grew to appreciate it as a break from potatoes with every meal. My husband was equally confused by my morning porridge version of buckwheat. However, I still cook it for myself for breakfast and eat it with a bit of butter and tvorog or cheese. It's actually one of my favorite comfort foods. I try to start it in the evening and leave it to finish cooking wrapped in blankets - and spread the smell throughout the house - like my grandmother did. I even use one of her old cast iron pots for it.”

In addition to these anecdotes of buckwheat, it has found its way into experimental kitchens elsewhere. Eastern Europeans have shown diverse culinary uses for buckwheat, from sweet to savory to being wrapped in dough. It is important to note, that since the middle of the 20th century, the groats used in recipes are almost always the roasted kind, not green buckwheat - which is raw and sproutable.

I recently came across a popular dish called Kasha Varnishkes. This dish includes bowtie pasta mixed with kasha, onions, carrots, other congenial veggies, and mushrooms. This recipe was news to me, including its puzzling name. This dish has been referenced as a one that arrived with Jewish Ukrainian immigrants. “Varnishkes” is related to “vareniki” which typically is made of a homemade wheat dough stuffed with kasha, mushrooms, and other tasty ingredients. Vareniki is more commonly known as “pierogi” and resembles a dumpling-like form. Ingredients in kasha varnishkes and pierogi are the same, however, varnishkes is a bowtie pasta, rather than the hand shaped and stuffed wheat dough as in pierogi. Both recipes start with Step 1 which is to prepare the kasha, so that the groats absorb all of the water and the kasha doesn’t turn mushy. This Kasha Varnishkes recipe illustrates the creativity of including basic roasted buckwheat groats with traditional flavors.

 Other culinary explorations of buckwheat include use as a flour, for dishes like pasta or galettes. When I was growing up, I didn't have access to buckwheat flour. I now enjoy this reincarnation of buckwheat, although it is entirely different from groats. Kasha has a distinct nutty and earthy flavor - often compared to hops, with a chewy texture. When buckwheat is used as a flour, the flavor is milder and the texture is no longer preserved, yet it adds a unique characteristic to baked goods. Recently, I baked Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies, as many of my friends are looking for gluten free baked goods. The cookies were quite successful, a bit unusual, and had a rich, complex, and pleasant taste. Next, I will be making Galette Sarrasin, a French savory crepe.

As we have seen, buckwheat is a staple ingredient in various culinary traditions. If you’re about to start your buckwheat exploration, I recommend beginning the buckwheat journey with Kasha. I’m partial to Kasha because it is such a solid meal on its own. The simple addition of butter and salt elevates kasha to a dignified dish. Admittedly, the taste can be an acquired one. Yet to me, having grown up in Russia during the 1970s-80s, where spices were few and always seasonal, the senses that kasha appealed to were that of community, belonging, warmth, and a happy belly. I hope that these anecdotes of buckwheat have made this nutritious grain more approachable. As your curiosity for buckwheat grows, may the links and recipes provided support you in cooking your own kasha and sharing with friends and family.