The appearance of buckwheat in Russia. Buckwheat is a truly Russian national dish

"The possible homeland of buckwheat is the mountainous regions of India, Burma and Nepal, where it began to be cultivated more than 4000 years ago. The English name for buckwheat is obviously related to the Dutch boekweit or German Buchweizen (literally: beech wheat), perhaps because its grains resemble beech fruits. From India, buckwheat came to China, Central Asia, Africa, the Caucasus and Greece. The Scythians bought buckwheat from the Greeks, which explains its Russian name "Greek groats", although it was brought to Russia in the 13th century by the Tatars.

In Russia, buckwheat porridge has long been valued and loved, and this tradition is alive to the fullest. In other countries, attitudes towards buckwheat have changed. Previously, for example, a lot of it was sown in England, and buckwheat honey was sold to France, where non-stale bread was baked on it. Now they have not baked for a long time, and in England they sow very little buckwheat, mainly for pheasants.

In addition to Russia, there is at least one other country for which buckwheat (both in the form of cereals and in the form of flour) is a traditional and very characteristic element of the national cuisine. Surprisingly, this country is not Greece at all, but Japan at all. Regulars of Japanese restaurants, tired of sushi-sashimi monotony and longing for new gastronomic sensations, have finally noticed that in good establishments they offer several types of thin, long and surprisingly tender buckwheat noodles - soba - with a variety of fillings: there can be both vegetables and mushrooms, and meat (most often pork), and seafood. With a cup of warm sake, any of these options go great. And it's much cheaper than eating raw fish.

Film director Vadim Abdrashitov said that in Europe, it turns out, there is no buckwheat at all, and somehow he had to take a friend to Yugoslavia as much as four kilograms of cereals.

"Buckwheat is obtained from grains of buckwheat - an annual plant of the buckwheat family. The homeland of buckwheat is the mountainous regions of India and Nepal (Himalayas). There it was first introduced into culture, this happened more than 2 millennia BC. From India, buckwheat came to China, then to Central Asia, the Caucasus, Africa and Ancient Greece.From the name "buckwheat, buckwheat", i.e. "Greek groats", we can conclude that buckwheat appeared in Russia as a result of contacts with Byzantine Greece "Since the 16th century, buckwheat has already been widely exported from Russia. And at the end of the 19th century, every 8th hectare of arable land was sown with buckwheat in Russia. In modern Europe, buckwheat appeared in the 15th century, but never gained much popularity...."

Back in the 1st century BC, buckwheat was grown on the territory of Russia, and buckwheat came to Europe no earlier than the 15th century. Due to the fact that Greek monks cultivated buckwheat in Kievan and Vladimir Rus, the groats were called "buckwheat". They determined such a name for the beloved cereals of the Slavs. In Greece and Italy, buckwheat was called "Turkish grain", in France and Belgium, Spain and Portugal - Saracen or Arabic, in Germany - "pagan". Initially, buckwheat grew in the Himalayan forest glades. More than 4 millennia ago, this type of cereal was introduced into the culture of cultivation in India and Nepal. In the second half of the 18th century, Carl Linnaeus gave buckwheat the Latin name "fagopyrum" - "beech-like nut", due to the fact that buckwheat seeds were shaped like beech tree nuts. After that, in many German-speaking countries - Germany, Holland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark - buckwheat began to be called "beech wheat".

Excerpt from the book "Myths of Civilization" (Davidenko, Kesler):
"The history of buckwheat is very curious. It seems that this is a "Greek" cereal, but it is not at all. South Asia is considered the birthplace of buckwheat. In India, buckwheat is called "black rice". In Europe, buckwheat appeared in the 15th century. It has been mentioned in Russian sources since 1495 Under what circumstances it became widespread in Europe - no one knows. According to the Italians, French, Spaniards and Portuguese, this is "Saracenic" groats. The Polish name for buckwheat - gryka (not greka!) Is clearly related to the Lit. grikai "spelled". In Bulgarian, buckwheat is "elda", while the similar Serbian "helda" means "Italian millet". One of the German names for buckwheat - Heidenkorn, means, like the Czechs pohanka - "pagan grain". The British have buckwheat - something like " goat wheat", like the Swedish bovete, and the German Buchweizen. But the Finns have buckwheat - tattari, i.e. "Tatar groats." However, there is also a similar German Taterkorn.

And the most curious thing about buckwheat is the following: the seemingly "Greek" origin of its name in Russian is obvious, but it is practically NOT in Greece, and the Greek word helymos, akin to the Serbian "helda", means "ITALIAN millet". But in Romanian, buckwheat is called "hrishke", which does not correspond to the word "Greek", since Greek and in Romanian Greek, and not "hrik". And the Romanian word "hrishke" itself is clearly of Slavic origin (but not Serbian or Bulgarian, but rather Ukrainian!). Plants from the buckwheat family have long been well known in Eastern Europe, such as rhubarb and sorrel. But only their leaves and stems are eaten. But the goutweed (German: Giersch), an herb from the umbrella family, ate not only stems and leaves, but also small, cereal-like fruits (cf. dill seeds). Therefore, "Italian" (i.e. the same "Wallachian") millet, i.e. buckwheat, may have come to the Greeks from the Slavs through the "Vlachs", and not vice versa. But there is a much more curious analogy: the German Hirse, Swede. hirs and Norwegian hirse mean exactly "millet, millet", and if we compare them with the Romanian "hrishke" ("buckwheat"), then there is nothing "Greek" in buckwheat at all ... (And something else "walnut" turns out to be in Europe on verification by "Walachian", for example, in the Western and South Slavic languages ​​\u200b\u200bwalnut = "Vlach nut", as well as English walnut, and German Walnuss, etc.)

So what was the "millet" among the Greeks? It turns out that a word related to our millet means a very healthy green - leek! (Greek praso, Roman praz). True, the Italians, Spaniards and French produce their leek (correspondingly porro, puerro and poireau) from the Latin porrum. But the simple-minded Portuguese still, like the Greeks, greens (and green in general) are denoted by the word prasino. And our wild-growing weed - wheatgrass, Bolg. Piraeus, Serb. feast, Czech pyr, rum. pir, Polish perz, Latvian. purava is now distinguished from millet, although the original word "pyro" meant the same spelt... And we are returning to square one - to the Balto-Slavic area of ​​green and cereal culture."

The past of each country is unique and unites the people living in it.

How we managed to introduce into the rank of an ancient national tradition the eating of sunflower seeds, which was brought to us two hundred years ago, is a mystery.

Nevertheless, this plant is so absorbed into our culture that even some historians, no, no, and yes, they will be mistaken.

For example, in the book of the "liberal historian" Boris Akunin "Altyn-Tolobas" we can find a beggar girl who peels seeds, not embarrassed by the fact that in the year described in 1682 this exotic flower had just begun to be planted by advanced gardeners in Holland and France.

Although the root “Greek” makes one suspect a Greek spy in this mess, she is our most. Ancient evidence of human consumption of buckwheat was found only in one place, in Altai. There are a lot of fossilized buckwheat grains in burial places and in parking lots.

Apparently, it was from Altai that buckwheat spread throughout Asia - though without much success. Only the Japanese and Chinese partially preserved it in their diet by adding ground buckwheat to flour, and most peoples never really ate it.

Nutritionists believe: the whole point here is that you need to get used to buckwheat from childhood, otherwise an adult, tasting buckwheat porridge for the first time, will feel bitterness and a chemical taste.

So, except for us, no one really eats it and does not know how to eat it. Although buckwheat is sold in Europe and the USA in all sorts of "biological" food stores, you cannot look at these bags without tears. The buckwheat in them is not roasted: green, crushed and good for nothing.

Buckwheat has appeared on Russian arable land since time immemorial. And although the Russians themselves considered her a countrywoman, and abroad she was called "Russian bread" - yet she was of non-Russian origin.

There were many legends and tales about buckwheat. One of them claimed that buckwheat came from “the royal daughter Krupenichka, taken in full by the evil Tatar. The Tartar made her his wife, and small, small children went from them, grew smaller until they turned into brown angular grains.

An old old woman, passing through the Golden Horde, took with her an unprecedented grain, brought it to Russia and buried it in the Russian land, in a wide field. And that grain taught to grow, and seventy-seven grains grew from one grain. The winds blew from all sides and scattered those grains into seventy-seven fields. Since that time, buckwheat has bred in Holy Russia.

Greece is often called the birthplace of buckwheat, which is not at all surprising - the name is appropriate, and indeed in Greece, as you know, "everything is there."

However, her real birthplace is the Himalayas. More than 4,000 years ago, the peoples of North India and Nepal who lived there drew attention to a herbaceous plant with nondescript flowers. Its seeds - dark, pyramid-like grains - turned out to be edible, they could be used to make flour for cakes and cook delicious porridge.

Neighboring peoples adopted this culture from the Himalayans and also began to cultivate it in their fields. So did the Volga Bulgarians, and it was from them that she got to Russia.

According to historians, the Slavs began to cultivate buckwheat in the 7th century, and it got its name in Kievan Rus, since in those days mainly Greek monks inhabiting local monasteries were engaged in planting buckwheat. The Slavs fell in love with tasty cereals, no matter what name they came up with: buckwheat, buckwheat, buckwheat, Greek wheat ... And in Ukraine and the Volga region, they still call it “Tatar”.

So, the wonderful phrase "according to historians" easily and smoothly flows into the assertion that in the 7th century Kievan Rus was literally teeming with Greek monks, who specifically ate there the fruits of their Greek hands in the form of porridge ....

Probably, it was because of their unhealthy love for cereals that they were expelled from their native Greece.

Now about porridge in general:

The ambassador of the Polish king to the Crimean Khan, Martin Bronevsky, writes in 1595: "The noblest and richest people use bread, beef, overcooked wine and sweet drinks; while the common people do not have bread, instead they use crushed millet, diluted with water and milk and usually called cash" .

This is probably the first mention of porridge in history, and the very existence of porridge was extremely surprising for the Slav Bronevsky.

Here the questions arise:

1. If porridge is not a Slavic product, then whose is it?

2. The word porridge itself is obviously not Mongolian, since in Mongolian cuisine (at least in Nogai) there is only liquid stew made from crushed millet on the water.

3. The word porridge is not Tatar, there are no porridges in modern Crimean Tatar cuisine. there is pilaf, which is borrowed from Central Asian cuisine.

There are no porridges in Turkish and Azerbaijani cuisine either.

Are there porridges in the cuisine of the peoples of the Kuban region and the North Caucasus?

4. In the cuisine of the Ugric peoples, what kind of cereals are there and what are they called?

5. The famous English pudding - is it closer to the pie or to the porridge?

6. "Oatmeal, sir" - oatmeal was originally only the food of the upper class? knighthood? cavalry?
Is there oatmeal in the cuisine of the Celtic peoples of Britain?

But he didn't get the name. Pokhlebkin repeats the (generally accepted, obviously) opinion about the connection between the name buckwheat and the Greek monks in Kyiv.

From a purely historical point of view, buckwheat is truly Russian national porridge, our second most important national dish.

"Schi and porridge are our food." "Porridge is our mother." "Buckwheat porridge is our mother, and rye bread is our father."

All these sayings have been known since ancient times. When in the context of Russian epics, songs, legends, parables, fairy tales, proverbs and sayings, and even in the chronicles themselves, the word "porridge" is found, it always means buckwheat porridge, and not some other.

The botanical homeland of buckwheat is our country, or rather, Southern Siberia, Altai, Mountain Shoria. From here, from the foothills of Altai, buckwheat was brought to the Urals by the Ural-Altai tribes during the migration of peoples.

Therefore, the European Cis-Urals, the Volga-Kama region, where buckwheat temporarily settled and began to spread throughout the first millennium of our era and almost two or three centuries of the second millennium as a special local culture, became the second homeland of buckwheat, again on our territory.

And finally, after the beginning of the second millennium, buckwheat finds its third homeland, moving into areas of purely Slavic settlement and becoming one of the main national cereals and, therefore, the national dish of the Russian people.

With regard to the name buckwheat, so far there is only one version - from the word "warm", that is, heated porridge or heated cereals.

Heated porridge - if it was once the only hot food at all, and everything else was eaten cold: dried, dried, salted or just raw.

Heated groats - if to store buckwheat grains, they had to be kept under the sun or calcined in the stove.

The very word "porridge" in its origin looks like Turanian (Scythian-Sako-Sarmatian).

As the Great Silk Road spread, rice replaced buckwheat among many Turanian peoples (by the way, pilaf, pilaf simply means rice).

Replace rice with buckwheat in any pilaf recipe, and leave everything else. And what happens?

Get Hungarian goulash.

Therefore, buckwheat porridge most likely spread with the Huns. And their wonderful bronze cauldrons still served not only ritual purposes and not for boiling little boys to get a rejuvenating broth.
Okay, let's talk now with connoisseurs of Hungarian cuisine.

My school friend and a great specialist in restaurant business Alexander Valikov sent the following information from Germany:
A special place in the cooking of the Finno-Ugric peoples is occupied by the use of grain and cereals from it. The oldest types of grain are barley and spelt. Therefore, barley porridge (pearl barley) is the national dish of Karelians, as well as Komi and Permians.

Mordvins and Maris, closely associated with the peoples of the Lower Volga region, prefer millet, although pearl barley, spelled and rye (black porridge) have also long been considered the main raw material for making gruels of highly boiled porridges, then diluted with water, butter or hot milk, with the addition of forest herbs and onions or wild garlic.

A feature of the use of grain is also stuffing pork and mutton intestines with steep porridges (barley, millet, half-byana) and frying them in lard.

In the Cis-Urals, lamb intestines are stuffed with barley and spelled, in the Volga region pork intestines are stuffed with millet. In terms of the nature of food raw materials, such dishes as flour jelly oatmeal, pea, rye are close to cereals and gruels in terms of the nature of food raw materials. However, in terms of technology and type of serving, Finno-Ugric flour kissels are more like soups; they are always eaten hot, like soups.

At the same time, in some regions of the Cis-Urals and Trans-Urals, the use of Russian sour "hard" kissels of rye and oatmeal has been preserved, which are eaten as a sweet dish, a delicacy, cold, with honey and berry sauce. However, these are rather relics of ancient Russian cuisine, still preserved in the remote corners of the Trans-Kama and Trans-Volga regions, remnants of the cuisine brought here in the 18th and 19th centuries. Russian Old Believer culinary culture.

Buckwheat

Buckwheat is very whimsical and difficult to grow. But the taste of buckwheat porridge and its special nutritional value makes people go to great efforts. Buckwheat honey is considered the best both in taste and properties, and is used as an effective remedy for colds and flu.

Americans practically do not eat buckwheat, if tourists are served buckwheat porridge in our restaurant - the plates remain untouched, many of them meet buckwheat in Russia for the first time and ask what it is. The Russians love buckwheat in any form.

Russians have long appreciated and loved buckwheat porridge, and this tradition has survived until the 21st century. There was a time, a lot of buckwheat was sown in England, but now the attitude towards buckwheat has changed, and today in England buckwheat is sown in negligible quantities, mainly for pheasants.

But it would be a mistake to think that buckwheat porridge is a native Russian dish. Buckwheat came to us, along with Orthodoxy, from Byzantium. But this is not her home. Buckwheat was given to the world by forest and alpine glades in the Himalayas, where buckwheat is found in the wild to this day. Cultural buckwheat in Europe was the first to be cultivated by the Volga Bulgarians, and only in the 7th century did it penetrate to the Finnish and Slavic tribes.

The desire of aristocrats for sophistication once played a very cruel joke with them. They refused to eat buckwheat - because of its dark color, allegedly unworthy of refined stomachs, and, contemptuously calling buckwheat "black porridge", considered it food for the plebeians.

Centuries passed, and in the 20th century, buckwheat was finally awarded the title of “queen of cereals”. In France, Belgium, Spain and Portugal, it was once called Arab grain, in Italy and Greece itself - Turkish, and in Germany - simply pagan grain. The Slavs began to call it buckwheat.

In the 18th century, Carl Linnaeus came up with the Latin name for buckwheat - fagopyrum, i.e. "beech-like nut". And in many European countries, it immediately began to be called beech wheat.

origin of name

And yet, what is the best name for the cereal from which we cook buckwheat porridge? Is she buckwheat or buckwheat? And one more thing: why is she "buckwheat"? Because her homeland is Greece?..

We have raised a lot of questions, now - answers.

So, in the dictionaries "buckwheat" is listed, namely "buckwheat" is a herbaceous plant of the buckwheat family. The grain of this plant and the groats from its grains are also called. "Grechka" is nothing more than a diminutive name for "buckwheat". So "buckwheat" is not an abbreviated "buckwheat" at all, as someone might think, quite the contrary.

Buckwheat, buckwheat, buckwheat, buckwheat, buckwheat - Dahl has all these names. By that time, buckwheat was already well known in Russia: still, it appeared in Europe in the 15th century, and on ancient Russian territory much earlier.

It is difficult to say when and under what circumstances the name "buckwheat, buckwheat" came into use in the Russian language. But, as linguists believe, this is apparently a short possessive adjective from "grk" (that is, "Greek"). "Greek - imported from Greece." By the way, in the Smolensk region, buckwheat porridge was called "walnut porridge" - like "walnuts"!

I note that in Greece itself, neither buckwheat porridge is called "Greek", nor walnuts (that is, Greek) are not there.

Properties

Even the German archaeologist Stockar called porridge "the foremother of bread." Indeed, at first people learned how to cook porridge, and then bake bread. They ate and eat porridge with milk, butter, lard.

Buckwheat is a tasty, healthy and nutritious product. Buckwheat is considered one of the best dietary products.

Buckwheat has no relation to wheat and is not even a grain (despite being used similarly). This is a triangular seed from the rhubarb family.

Buckwheat differs in the integrity of the grain - unground (whole grain), prodel (grain with a broken structure), Smolensk groats (heavily crushed grains), buckwheat flour.

Buckwheat contains:

* 13-15% protein;
* 2.5 -3% fat;
* 2.0-2.5% sugars and 70% starch;
* 1.1-1.3 fiber;
* 2.0-2.2% ash elements.

Calorie content of 100 g of buckwheat - 335 kcal.

Buckwheat contains less carbohydrates than other cereals. At the same time, it is a valuable dietary protein product with a high content of amino acids. And most importantly, buckwheat is a rich source of iron. Buckwheat contains a large amount of vitamins and minerals.

Preparations from flowers and leaves of buckwheat reduce the fragility and permeability of blood vessels, accelerate wound healing, have a beneficial effect in diseases of the upper respiratory tract, scarlet fever, measles, radiation sickness. Scientists explain such a diverse effect of buckwheat not only by its rich chemical composition, but also by the high content of rutin in the leaves and flowers, which has a P-vitamin-like effect.

In cooking, both buckwheat and buckwheat flour are used - some types of pasta and noodles are made from it, muffins and pancakes are baked.

Buckwheat has another amazing property: it treats negligent producers strictly, immediately revealing cheating and deceit.

After all, buckwheat is arranged by nature itself in such a way that its quality is easy to check without any laboratories, in simple home conditions: if buckwheat is fully ripe and properly dried, then exactly a thousand of its grains will weigh exactly 20 grams

And now a few words about chemicals.

Unfortunately, we are almost used to the inevitable fact that almost all of our food contains nitrates, pesticides and herbicides. So in buckwheat they are not. At all. How is it? And from the fact that a modest buckwheat seed, of course, is light, but strong. Buckwheat does not need chemicals at all - neither for fertilizer, nor for protection against weeds and pests - it deals with them with brilliance itself. That is why buckwheat fields are classified as environmentally friendly. And that's why, when buying a package of buckwheat in a supermarket, you can be sure: you bought buckwheat, and not a chemical plant.

Medicinal properties of buckwheat

But what in buckwheat - unlike some other cereals - is not and cannot be, is gluten. So you can not be afraid of any allergic reaction to this cereal.

Moreover, the inclusion of buckwheat in a regular diet eliminates unreasonable fears, nervousness and guarantees an improvement in mood - delighting us not only with its taste, but also with the ability to raise the level of dopamine (a neurohormone that affects motor activity and motivation).

Same way:

Buckwheat has a laxative effect (loose porridge).

Buckwheat increases muscle strength, endurance, excites.

Buckwheat strengthens blood vessels.

Buckwheat has a beneficial effect on blood formation (used for anemia, leukemia, recommended for atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease, hypertension).

Buckwheat reduces the level of "bad" cholesterol in the blood (with regular use).

Buckwheat is prescribed for diseases of the pancreas.

Buckwheat has a beneficial effect on the gastrointestinal tract.

Buckwheat is a good remedy for heartburn (raw groats are chewed on a pinch);

Buckwheat is used in the treatment of weakened lungs - it removes thick sputum from the bronchi, softens a dry cough (drink tea from a pair of buckwheat flowers, 40 g per 1 liter of water).

Buckwheat treats leukemia (leukemia) - for this, an infusion is prepared from 1 cup of buckwheat shoots per 1 liter of boiling water (drink without a norm) or 1 tsp. buckwheat flowers are brewed like tea with a glass of boiling water, insist 30 minutes, filter and drink 0.25 cups several times a day.

Buckwheat helps with lumbar pain (groats are hovered in the oven and wrapped around the back);

Buckwheat used to be used in Russia for erysipelas (buckwheat flour was sprinkled on a hot splinter so that the burnt flour fell on the sore spot).

Buckwheat is useful in the treatment of jaundice (the patient is rubbed with liquid buckwheat porridge, after which it is supposed to lie warm for 2 hours).

Buckwheat is used for diseases of the throat (groats were heated in a pan, poured into a stocking and tied around the neck);

Buckwheat quickly and painlessly heals abscesses, boils, boils (chew raw buckwheat, put on gauze and tie to a sore spot);

Buckwheat gently acts on delicate baby skin (sifted buckwheat flour is an excellent baby powder, it is also used for poultices).

Contraindications: Buckwheat increases the formation of black bile, mucus, gases in the body and overexcites the body; due to its strong activating properties, it should be limited to children.

Plain buckwheat

Simple buckwheat - pale green; it is good to use in desserts. Roasted buckwheat turns brown. It can be steamed, boiled or baked, served in soups, goulash or salads. It is one of the standard substitutes for rice and is prepared in the same way as rice is soaked.

Buckwheat will gladly share all its reserves with you if you cook it correctly. The rules are simple: 1) do not soak the cereal before cooking, then the main part of the nutrients will remain in the buckwheat, 2) pour water to the same height (from the level of the buckwheat) that the cereal itself occupies, 3) during cooking, try to remove the lid less often and do not stir the porridge at all, and so that it does not burn, just cook it over low heat.

Buckwheat in the focus of modern technologies

Stage 1: Groats pass through a cleaning machine that removes mineral impurities (GOST, by the way, allows them).

Stage 2: The cleaned grain enters the microionizer. This latest system is used by only two factories in Russia. Under the influence of high temperature and infrared radiation (absolutely safe for the product and human health), the grain "explodes", complex carbohydrates break down into smaller ones that are more easily absorbed by the body.

Proteins and fats also change their structure, turning into more easily digestible forms. Disinfection also takes place here - the buckwheat that comes out of the microionizer is almost sterile, so it can be stored longer. It is very important that after such processing, buckwheat acquires the taste of fried and its cooking time is reduced to 7 minutes.

Stage 3: After processing, barely noticeable cracks may appear on the grains, some grains even split. There are no traditional mechanisms for removing such a marriage.

Stage 4: Before the selected kernel “scatters” through the bags, it is passed through a magnetic column - in order to further clean it in case metal particles of the equipment got into the cereal.

Stage 5: Groats are packaged in perforated bags made of a special film, in which it "breathes" and retains its original quality and taste. The further fate of buckwheat depends only on the imagination of the hostess.

Buckwheat flour

With an abundance of nutritious, tasty and healthy qualities, buckwheat flour should be a regular part of the diet.

Buckwheat flour is grayish-brown in color and has a slightly bitter taste. When you fall in love with this flour, baking with it will become a pleasure thanks to the unique characteristics of buckwheat flour. Any recipe can be adapted to use this flour.

When using gluten-free flour instead of regular flour, remember...

* Add a little more liquid than usual as it will absorb quickly

* When using pancake flour in a recipe, add 1 x 5 ml (1 teaspoon) of baking powder for every 200 g of gluten-free flour.

Turns out:

The Japanese willingly eat buckwheat noodles, the Bretons - buckwheat pancakes, just now, during the carnival period. Other French provinces are real porridges at all, but not at all like ours, because they do not brew the grain itself, but the flour ground from it.

Italy continues the geography of buckwheat - in the north they make thin buckwheat paste and cut it into rather wide, tagliate-like strips. Another type of porridge is cooked there - local buckwheat polenta. Only a strong buckwheat flavor betrays the ingredient, but in general the dish is, of course, completely Italian. And, finally, in the neighboring Savoy, they also cook pasta, denser, cut into small squares.

I was looking for buckwheat abroad in Russian, Polish and Jewish stores. She meticulously noted that in Europe it is not the same as in Russia. Polished, very light, clean and, devoid of its shell, instantly boils soft. More often it is sold in organic food shops, where it stands next to barley and with quite exotic millet.

And for buckwheat, and for its neighbors on store shelves, the finest hour has finally come. They are, as they say, noticed. Millet and buckwheat are in vogue. They began to replace the quinoa, which is far from everyone, and only the buyer has learned how to pronounce this word correctly. At least, Europeans won't have to learn the words "millet" and "grain of Saracens".

This food may not be so common, but it was established in regional cuisines back in the Middle Ages, and the words themselves did not disappear anywhere. On the contrary, overseas maize once thoroughly replaced millet, but in France pancakes and porridge made from corn are called “millet”.

The fashion for buckwheat and millet, which we will hear about more than once this year, began with the search for "healthy products". Every year there is a crazy passion for a new, unfamiliar product, about which they suddenly say that "in China, thanks to him, they live up to a hundred years," that it contains a "storehouse of vitamins" and other nonsense.

No matter how many vitamins there are in the product, you cannot live on it alone. So quinoa, like an actress bored on the screens, began to notice flaws. Who doesn't have them. Surprisingly, buckwheat, it seems, really is the same “storehouse of vitamins”. We, buckwheat eaters, have known about this for a long time, and just as long those who protect their figure know its dietary properties and the expression "sit on buckwheat."

And we are well aware that the most valuable thing in buckwheat is not its vitamins and not even the absence of sugars and gluten, but its amazing nutty taste. It is impossible to confuse it with anything. In the bakery of the Bristol Hotel in Paris, which itself bakes bread for its guests, I instantly recognized the presence of buckwheat in one of the still warm, dark and incredibly tasty loaves. I upset, it seems, a wonderful baker, he was sure that he himself would present a clue.

And here is another find. Big catch this time. Buckwheat flour crumble is offered by Philippe Conticini, and what this means, I will now explain.

Conticini is the best French pastry chef. This is recognized by all his colleagues, and no one argues with this for a long time, although among them there are other wonderful, very famous and simply great. But Conticini is different. Because he is a genius. The rest of the chefs and confectioners say that he has an absolute sky, as musicians have an absolute ear.

Conticini once introduced the fashion for desserts in "verrines", small glasses, and most importantly, it was he who began to rethink old and outdated French cakes in a new way: eclair, Saint-honore, pari-brest and others. Now go to any bakery, look under the glass jar with desserts of any good French restaurant, there will definitely be an eclair and a pari-brest. Conticini is the one who sets the trend.

So the future of buckwheat is assured, rest assured. Because I recently looked into his blog, and there is buckwheat crumble. It’s easier and more ideal than a dessert not to meet, especially since there are not so many gluten-free recipes, like flour-free pies.

Preparing is also very simple, only if you do not have buckwheat flour, you will need to grind it in a coffee grinder from well-done cereals. And then turn the flour, butter, salt and brown sugar together in a mixer until you get a very thin crumb. It is also good to add ground nuts to it, forest nuts are best, they converge with buckwheat aroma as if they grew on the same bush. But walnuts are fine too.

Another five minutes in the mixer - it will take about ten minutes in total - and the fragrant nut-buckwheat powder should be left for half an hour in the refrigerator. And after half an hour we will fry it without any oil, dry, in a good and heated frying pan with a thick bottom over medium heat, for about five minutes, then removing it, then putting it on fire again.

It is necessary to fry as is - with all the lumps formed during this time, until you get a crumble with a clear taste of toasted buckwheat and nuts. You can simply sprinkle them with fruit or yogurt, or you can cook the pie of the same name.

For example, with winter apples and pears. Cut them into cubes, stew in butter until soft, put them in an oiled glass or clay mold and drizzle with lemon. Sprinkle, finally, with buckwheat crumbs and put in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Crumble is ready, you can eat it just like that, letting it cool a little, cooled down is tastier! And you can with whipped cream, which is why the familiar taste of buckwheat porridge with milk will suddenly acquire a completely different meaning for you.

Buckwheat flour crumble

Buckwheat flour - 100 g

Butter - 50 g (and another 50 g for fruits)

Brown sugar - 50 g

Nut flour - 60 g

Salt - 0.5 teaspoon

Apples - 5 pcs.

Pears --- 4 pcs.

Lemon - 1/2 pc.

Buckwheat- This is a plant from the buckwheat family (Polygonaceae), from which buckwheat is made - a tasty, healthy and nutritious dietary product.

Origin

For the first time, buckwheat cultivation began in the mountainous regions of India about four thousand years ago. In the 15th century, the culture spread to China, Japan and Korea, then conquered the countries of the Middle East and Central Asia, and then conquered Europe.

In India, buckwheat is called black rice, in France, Belgium and Portugal - Arabic grain, Italians and Greeks called it Turkish grain. Buckwheat came to Russia from Greece, which is why it got its name.

The nutritional value

Buckwheat is a valuable dietary product with a high content of amino acids. There are fewer carbohydrates in it than in other cereals, they are digested for a long time, which allows you not to feel hungry for a long time. Buckwheat is an excellent source of iron, but besides this, it has a lot of other useful substances: phosphorus, iodine, zinc, calcium, potassium, fluorine, copper.

Buckwheat also contains B vitamins (B1, B2, B9, B6), vitamins E, PP, rutin, folic acid, riboflavin, thiamine. And the content of methionine and lysine in buckwheat is much higher than in other cereals.

Application in cooking

The main and well-known dish of buckwheat is, of course, fragrant buckwheat porridge. But besides this, you can cook delicious casseroles and puddings, tender meatballs, wonderful pancakes, pancakes, dumplings from buckwheat. Grains are also used in the preparation of soups.

In Japanese and Italian cuisines, noodles and other pasta are made from a mixture of buckwheat and wheat flour, traditional Breton pancakes in France are also baked from buckwheat flour, and the most famous and favorite dish of Eastern European Jews is "varnishkes" - buckwheat porridge mixed with vermicelli.

Application in medicine and cosmetology

Buckwheat is rich in bioflavonoids, which strengthen capillaries. In addition, buckwheat stimulates blood circulation, relieves swelling of the limbs and lowers blood pressure. This product is recommended for diabetics as it helps maintain blood sugar balance. Buckwheat lowers blood cholesterol levels, helps with constipation, osteoarthritis, abdominal diseases, and also, by raising dopamine levels, relieves mild depression.

Buckwheat contains a large amount of flavonoids, thanks to which the aging process slows down. It is quite natural that buckwheat (more precisely, buckwheat flour) is part of all kinds of face and hair masks, and it is also used as baby powder.

Contraindications

With all its undeniable advantages, buckwheat is still not useful for everyone. Pregnant women and nursing mothers should not consume large amounts of buckwheat. Also, the abuse of buckwheat can have an unpleasant effect on people suffering from gastric ulcer, duodenal ulcer, gastritis.

Interesting Facts
In order for buckwheat porridge to be crumbly, when cooking, it is necessary to observe
certain proportions: one part of buckwheat to two parts of water. The saucepan at the same time
close tightly and do not lift the lid during the cooking process.

To make the dish more fragrant, buckwheat should be fried before cooking.
grits in a dry frying pan for 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly until it
will not acquire a pleasant golden hue.

From ancient times to the present day, buckwheat porridge remains one of the favorite dishes of Russian national cuisine among the people. Only in Russia, Ukraine, to some extent in China, and more recently in France and Japan, buckwheat enjoys such respect. For most Europeans, it still remains nothing more than exotic, which is sold in supermarkets in small bags, to which a brochure about its beneficial properties is certainly attached. Previously, the USSR, and now Russia and Ukraine, grow almost half of the world's buckwheat crop and consume it themselves.

dietary product

Its popularity with us is not accidental. Buckwheat is a healthy dietary product. When growing, it does not need any chemicals. It copes with pests and weeds on its own, and all attempts to increase its low, even in favorable years no more than 8-10 centners per hectare, yield with fertilizers immediately affect its taste. It seems that nature itself has made sure that buckwheat always remains an environmentally friendly product. When buying it, you can always be sure that there are no nitrates or pesticides in the cereal. Otherwise, the taste of buckwheat will be such that even if you want it, you still won’t eat it with all your efforts.

Buckwheat contains a lot of substances necessary for the human body: fats, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and amino acids, but gluten, unlike other cereals, is not in it. Therefore, it can be safely recommended to those who are allergic to gluten and to whom other cereals are contraindicated. The protein contained in buckwheat is a complete replacement for meat protein and is easier to digest. The composition of buckwheat also includes calcium, phosphorus, iodine and other trace elements necessary for our body. Of the vitamins, vitamin E predominates, which is so lacking for residents of large cities, vitamins of group B, vitamin PP (rutin). It is thanks to the routine that buckwheat strengthens the walls of blood vessels and capillaries. Therefore, it is very useful for varicose veins and for those who have heart problems. In addition, buckwheat helps cleanse the liver and removes excess cholesterol. For these reasons, it is widely used in dietary nutrition.

Homeland - Himalayas

Where did this wonderful cereal come from in Russia? For the most part, experts believe that North India is the birthplace of buckwheat. On the western spurs of the Himalayan mountains, wild forms of the plant are concentrated. In nature, they are willingly eaten by songbirds. About 4-5 thousand years ago, the Himalayan mountain dwellers tasted that small green "pyramids" - the seeds of the local mountain grass are suitable for eating and began to cook food from them. For a long time, buckwheat was consumed in its green form. Over time, the inhabitants of the Himalayas tried to warm the buckwheat grains, and they not only acquired a brown hue, but they also had a more pleasant taste and aroma.

Then buckwheat gradually began to spread throughout the world. In the XV century. BC e. it penetrated China, Korea and Japan, and then to the countries of Central Asia, the Middle East and the Caucasus, and only after that to Europe - perhaps during the Mongol-Tatar invasion, because in many European countries it is called a Tatar plant. Her name is Tatar and we have in central Russia. According to one of the opinions, due to the fact that she came to Russia from the Volga Bulgars, that is, the Tatars. But the prevailing opinion is that in the 7th century it was brought to Kievan Rus through the territory of modern Romania by the Byzantine Greeks. Greek monks at first grew it. For this reason, she began to be called "buckwheat". In France, Belgium, Spain and Portugal, it was once called "Arab grain", in Italy and Greece itself - Turkish, and in Germany - simply pagan grain. In many European countries, it is still called "beech wheat" - because of the similarity of seeds in shape with beech nuts.

Despite the capricious nature of buckwheat and its low yield, Russian tillers have always set aside large areas for its crops. Buckwheat has become not only one of the favorite dishes, but also used in folk medicine. A decoction of buckwheat was recommended for colds, as well as an expectorant for dry coughs. For medicinal purposes, flowers and leaves harvested in June-July were used, as well as seeds - as they ripened. In old manuals, buckwheat porridge was recommended for large blood loss and colds. Poultices and ointments made from buckwheat flour were used for skin diseases - boils, eczema - and malignant tumors. Fresh leaves were applied to wounds and boils. Flour and powdered leaves were used as powder for children.

But how did the people themselves imagine the appearance of buckwheat in Russia? It turns out that even legends were composed about her.

Greek legend

Behind the blue seas, behind the steep mountains lived a king and a queen. In old age, the Lord sent them a single offspring, a daughter, of unspeakable beauty for joy. They thought, thought about how to name their daughter, and decided to send an ambassador to ask the one they met by name and patronymic, and that name they would call the newborn child. And they told the princes and boyars that strong thought of theirs. Princes and boyars sentenced: be so! They sent an ambassador to look for someone they met. He sat down at a certain crossroads, sits for a day, sits for another. On the third day, the old witch goes to Kiem-grad to pray to God. So the ambassador says to her the royal thought: "God help you, old man! Tell the whole truth, do not hide it: what is your name, and how to call you by your patronymic?" And the old old woman says in rebuke to him: “My lord, merciful boyar! How I was born by the will of God into the world, and then, de, my father and mother called me: Krupenichka,” and what was the name of the father of the dear, they say, she he does not remember his orphanhood. The ambassador began to reproach the old sorceress that she had lost her mind, because such a name could not be heard by ear, by sight it could not be seen how white the light stands. He even began to frighten her with torture, so that she would say everything without concealment. The old woman pleaded: “I told you, boyar, the whole truth with the truth, I said the whole thing without concealment. And in everything I put the guarantee of all the saints and saints. sins to die!" The boyar thought, thought, and let the old woman go to Kyiv-grad to pray to God, and on vacation he endowed him with a golden treasury, and severely punished him: pray for the king and queen, and for their born offspring.

The ambassador went to the princes and boyars to tell what he had done. From his ambassadorial speech, all the princes and boyars were amazed. They wrote down the embassy's story and went to the tsar for a petition. They bowed to the tsar about the damp earth, and at the petition they said the whole speech and brought articles written to the whole business of the embassy. And the king decided: to be the case as it happened. And the king and queen called their born offspring, in the name of the one they met, Krupenichka. That royal daughter Krupenichka grows up by leaps and bounds, she learns all the bookish wisdom of older old people. So the king and queen conceived: how to give their offspring in marriage? And they send ambassadors to all kingdoms and states, and in all kingdoms to look for a son-in-law, and for their offspring - a husband.

Not thought, not guessed, the Golden Horde of Besermen rose against him, condemning the king, to fight with a war, to fill his kingdom with a full, to destroy his faithful servants. The tsar went out to the Golden Horde in the Besermensky war to fight with all the princes and boyars, with his entire kingdom, including women and children and old men. In that war, I condemn the tsar, he was not lucky: he, condemn the tsar, laid down his head with all the princes and boyars, with all his army. And that Golden Horde of Besermen captivated all the women and children, all the old old people. And that kingdom would not exist.

That royal daughter Krupenichka got to the evil Tatar in full. And did he, the evil Tatar, force Krupenichka into his Besermenian faith, promised that he would walk in pure gold and sleep on a crystal bed. But Krupenichka did not believe his promising speeches. And he tormented, accursed, Krupenichka with great work, hard captivity for exactly three years; and on the fourth he again began to force the Besermenskaya into his faith. And she, Krupenichka, stood firmly on her Orthodox faith. At that time, an old witch from Kyiv passed through the Golden Horde of Besermen. So she sees, prophesying, Krupenichka in great work, in captivity heavy. And she felt sorry for her, the old one, Krupenichka. And she, old, wraps Krupenichka in a buckwheat seed and puts that buckwheat seed in her wicket. She goes, old, by the way, no small road to Holy Russia. And at that time, Krupenichka will say to her: “You did a great service for me, saved me from great and difficult work; serve the last service: when you come to Holy Russia, to the wide fields, free, bury me in the ground.”

The sage, according to what was said, as if written, did everything that Krupenichka commanded her. As she buried, the old woman, a buckwheat seed on the holy Russian land, in a wide field, free, and that seed taught to grow in growth, and grew from that seed buckwheat about 77 grains. The winds blew from all four sides, smashed those 77 grains into 77 fields. Since that time, buckwheat has bred in Holy Russia. And then the old, and then the deed to good people for all to hear.

Viktor BUMAGIN

#rainbow#paper#buckwheat#rus

TO MAINNEWSPAPER RAINBOW

It is generally accepted that the root of the name of a plant is often the country from which this plant began its journey around the world as a food product. I don’t know who or what formed such an opinion, but there are only a few plants with a name similar to the place where it grows. The same story with the origin of buckwheat. Although the root “Greek” in the first place leads us to the idea that Greece is the birthplace of buckwheat, this is not true. Buckwheat is our native porridge.

Ancient evidence of the use of buckwheat porridge for human consumption was found only in our country, in Altai. Fossilized grains of buckwheat are found in graves and on caravan routes. Apparently, buckwheat spread from Altai along the Great Silk Road - however, without much success. Only in Japan and China, buckwheat has been partially preserved in the diet, most often it is used as an additive to add color, smell or flavor to the flour used in baking, and in most countries buckwheat has not taken root.

Nutritionists believe that the main role here is played by a habit that is formed from childhood. An adult, tasting buckwheat porridge, first of all feels bitterness and unnatural aftertaste. Therefore, apart from us, not a single nation really eats buckwheat, and besides, no one in the world knows how to cook it.

For example, in Europe and the USA, buckwheat is sold in "biological" food stores, but you can’t look at these tiny medical bags without tears. The buckwheat in them is not fried, most often green or crushed, in Russian, good for nothing.

Where does buckwheat grow? Is it true that buckwheat "came" to us from the valleys of the Himalayas?

Indeed, many scientists claim, and there is scientific evidence for this, that Greece is not the birthplace of buckwheat, as we repeat again, is heard from its name, and the Himalayas, where it began to be grown more than 4000 years ago.

How does buckwheat grow?

This annual plant can only be cultivated - it is not found anywhere else in the wild.

What does a buckwheat plant look like.

During the flowering period, the buckwheat plant is covered with small, white or pink, unusually fragrant flowers. Buckwheat fruits are trihedral small nuts.

A wonderful and very tasty porridge is cooked from buckwheat, known for its high calorie content, high content of carbohydrates, proteins, organic acids, vitamins and vegetable fats. Despite its calorie content, buckwheat is part of many diets, as it goes well with all dairy products - for example, kefir.

If you have a question, buckwheat is carbohydrates or proteins, buckwheat is its composition. 100 grams of finished buckwheat contains approximately 14 grams of protein, up to 4 grams of fat and almost 50 grams of carbohydrates. Of course, there are a lot of carbohydrates, but buckwheat is a “good” carbohydrate because it is absorbed slowly, does not cause the release of glucose into the blood when consumed, and is recommended specifically for dietary nutrition and nutrition for patients with diabetes.

And blooming buckwheat is a wonderful honey plant. Buckwheat honey is dark in color with a pronounced, unforgettable aroma, inherent only in buckwheat flowers.