Simple Buckwheat Breakfast

Buckwheat is not a grain, but a fruit seed. I never knew this until recently.

It's also inexpensive - far less expensive than any kind of granola or commercially produced cereal. It's easy to keep around , easy to prepare, and it's a filling breakfast.

Buckwheat is high in manganese, magnesium, tryptophan and fiber. it's full of disease-preventing flavonoids and helps to control blood sugar levels. With all these benefits it would be a shame to miss out on getting some buckwheat in.

HOWEVER. That being said, buckwheat should never be sprouted and eaten. The green leaves of buckwheat are full of a substance called fagopyrin, which creates a photo-toxicity in people (and animals). The groats are safe to eat, but never sprout buckwheat and eat the shoot or the greens, because it can cause you some serious side effects.

This is the way that I like to prepare and eat buckwheat :

1. Get raw (white, untoasted) buckwheat groats.
2. Soak them over night in a bowl of water until soft. They will expand about 2 times their original size.
3. strain the water off and put the buckwheat into a small sieve or colander
4. set the colander in a bowl and store, covered in the fridge. (this keeps the buckwheat from getting wet and soggy). It will keep for quite a while this way, especially if you rinse it and re-drain it from time to time.

I like to eat mine with dried cranberries and some almond milk poured over them. You could add all sorts of things to it , though, such as nuts, or bananas, or really anything you can think of.