Buckwheat wasn't that neat.

By Taffi Poirot
June 29, 2010

The Buckwheat wasn’t that neat.

So here we are on the flip-side of the buckwheat cooking and consumption. First, let me say that I am wondering whether the choice to get the toasted buckwheat over the “plain” was the wisest choice for a first time taste-test. But, let me say-it wasn’t all that bad either. I expected the taste to be different and I expected earthy, so that went well…but I did have to imagine myself back in time as a hunter-gatherer for a moment to get beyond the first bite.

Once I got through the first couple of bites, the taste started to grow on me. Would I eat it plain? Probably not, but I think if I added in a few vegetables and spices it could turn into a nice little side dish worth revisiting. I am not giving up, I am simply saying I need to tweak my approach a little. I must admit that I did put in a bit of my own mad science at the end…though the beginning was pretty straightforward.

At first, I prepared it according to directions with one part buckwheat to three parts water, put it on to boil and I went with that for a while. Then I tasted it and quickly decided that it needed “something”, so I added some beef stock, a bit of pepper, and a little olive oil. This helped redeem it a little, but it never quite reached the delicious stage.

Though my first acquaintance with buckwheat was not a smashing success, I think that if I change a few things next time, it will become more welcome on the menu. First, I will choose the untoasted buckwheat, then I will cook it in some sort of flavored broth, and I will add yellow onion or green onion and experiment with different spices.

In the end, I hope to develop a recipe that will be more palatable and I will pretend to be a hunter-gatherer no more.