Buckwheat Pillows

Buckwheat has been grown for thousands of years in the orient. From there it slowly spread through Russia to Europe. It is reported that the Crusaders carried it from the Saracens into Europe. Only relatively recently did it find it’s way into Canada, and even more recently, into the US.

The primary purpose of the cultivation of  buckwheat was for the very nutritious flour and groats from the seeds. Other secondary derivatives were the edible plants, honey that bees produce from the nectar of their blossoms, their use as a ground cover to keep down weeds, green manure to improve the soil’s fertility, and of course, the buckwheat hulls to fill their buckwheat pillows.

Our word “buckwheat” evolved from a Dutch name of “boek-weit”, which translates to “beech-wheat”. The “boek”, or “beech” part coming from the resemblance of the buckwheat seed to the beech tree nut. The “weit” or “wheat” part is a result of the flour derived from the seed being used much like the flour they made from wheat.