Buckwheat

Let me tell you about buckwheat and why it never behaves like other grains in your pot.

Buckwheat isn't a cereal at all. It's a pseudocereal, a seed from a plant related to rhubarb and sorrel, not to wheat or rice. That's why it contains no gluten. Cooked right — a tight lid, a short simmer, no stirring — the grains stay separate instead of clumping together.

Choose it by smell first. Good toasted buckwheat smells like hazelnuts and warm bread. If it smells flat, or worse, a little musty, walk away — that batch has been sitting too long. Look at the color too: a deep amber-brown means it was roasted well. Pale, greenish-brown grains aren't from a bad batch — that's raw, untoasted buckwheat, sold on purpose, with a milder, grassier taste.

Some people say buckwheat is gluten-free wheat. No! It has nothing to do with wheat botanically — the name is a historical accident, nothing more. That misconception leads people to treat it like a grain that needs soaking or long simmering in lots of liquid. Don't. Buckwheat wants just enough water to disappear into the grains. Per 100 grams raw, it gives you 346 kilocalories, 74.95 grams of carbs, 11.73 grams of protein, and 2.71 grams of fat — solid, honest food, if you respect how it cooks.