In our family we regularly make cereals from roasted whole buckwheat. It is delicious and has the advantage of being a psuedocereal, not a grass like for example wheat and barley, which some (or even more than you think) people are sensitive to (Coeliac disease but also other). Regardless of that, eating pseudocereals makes food intake more varied.

Here in Sweden, buckwheat has been grown for hundreds of years, but, unlike e.g. Russia and China, only very little. Hopefully it will make a comeback as a locally grown crop, at least in the south. The north is too cold.

The procedure I describe below is no invention of mine. I do not remember the source(s) I first got the recipe from. Recipes are not copyrighted, which means anyone can use them, modify them, share them and make food from them to eat or sell. Still there is food industry and the lack of copyright does not create starvation. It is good manners to refer to the source(s), but I do not have them.

The procedure/recipe

Please read the whole recipe before starting. Four this amount of buckwheat, you will need an oven that fits four trays. It will occupy your oven for 20 hours. Plan accordingly.

Rinse carefully 1 kg whole buckwheat. Then I let it soak for 24 hours. Change the water and rinse once or twice during that time. The water becomes a bit muddled and reddish. Buckwheat contains a bitter substance that needs removing by soaking or boiling. Buckwheat can cause allergic reactions. It is not common, but if you have never eaten it before, be careful, please.

When 24 hours soaking is done, rinse carefully and put it in a sieve.

Buckwheat in itself is rather bland, so it needs spicing up. Now is time to mix the 'spices' that make the taste. I usually do not measure the amount, but I did that twice just to test and be able to give an idea of reasonable amounts. For 1 kg buckwheat I used:

2 tablespoons ground cardamom
1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3/4 dl of ground unsweetened rose hip.

Sometimes I also add 2 tablespoons of raw cocoa powder.

Mix the spices with the buckwheat in a big jar.

Then, add about 3/8 dl agave syrup and mix carefully. You can also use honey, but the agave syrup has lower GI, if that matters to you. The spice mixing might need changing according to your taste. Experimenting is fun, but ingredients are not dirt cheap, and it takes time to make, so there is some work to it. 🙂

Spread the mix evenly on 4 (four) baking trays and put in oven.

The temperature should be 40 (forty) degrees (Celcius, not Kelvin, nor Fahrenheit), and 20 (twenty) hours. I haven't used hot air fan setting, so I do not know how that would affect roasting. Our ovens minimum temperature is 50, so we have the oven door slightly open.

The different colours is due to light. After roasting, the crunch will be slightly darker, using cocoa in the mix cocoa will make it slightly more darker.

I have no relation whatsoever with producers or resellers of the ingredients, but I use standard cardamom and cinnamon found in any food store, the rose hip is Risenta brand and the agave syrup is from Lunedemiel. Not all food stores have all ingredients mentioned, or they might be of other brands. The raw cocoa we buy from the U.K.

You might also find ready made buckwheat crunch in the store. Could be a good idea to test first, even though the spicing might be rather different.

Serve with e.g. youghurt, and maybe fruits or raisins.