September and the allure of wild buckwheat

This isn’t like common buckwheat grown in fields for a harvest of big groats. It is different. Of course before I became a bread baker I thought nothing of buckwheat. We grew it as a cover crop in the garden along with oats and fava beans. Covercrops are grown to add nutrients to the soil, to replenish what has been taken after a harvest and turn over of the land. Once I began playing with bread I found a formula for a simple buckwheat loaf and low and behold the crumb was grey. I had no idea. At the time, as a novice baker in my 20’s, I had read that buckwheat had no gluten. Milled into flour it had to be combined with wheat to make bread. Despite it’s name, Buckwheat was not a wheat at all, not even part of the grass family but instead related to sorrel, knotweed and rhubarb. More commonly a cereal, not a grain, instead a seed that is harvested from a flowering plant related to rhubarb.

Years later I discovered our wild buckwheat, Eriogonum fasciculatum. For some reason it hadn’t dawned on me that it grew profusely in the hills I so frequently wandered. A cotton like bounty of white flowers turn into a burnt auburn as September sets in. The hills are covered, the fields are covered, the canyons covered, and along the side of the road the bushes grow up thick. Once I saw it as buckwheat I fell in love with it. I look for it’s seasonal change now. It is a sign of September and autumn.

It is a super food for biodiversity…..animals and insects alike thrive off of its growth and offerings. It is a nectar plant, a source of honey for bees. It aids in erosion control, post fire mitigation and is considered an incredibly valuable native plant for habitat restoration. For many Native American tribes it was a food source and medicinal plant. A tea can be made from the leaves, stems and roots. The seeds can be eaten raw or used in baked items or porridges. The ground roots help headaches and stomach problems. The powdered root made into a poultice can heal wounds or help with hoarseness and colds effecting the throat. As most wild and native plants go it’s benefits our bountiful.

I played around with this wild buckwheat last year in some sourdough. The seeds are tiny and nothing like the common buckwheat groat. I pulsed the chaff of the drying flowers with the seeds and made a supplement to add to my basic country sourdough formula. The smell was like pine and fresh stems as it soaked in the hydration on the dough. To my delight the color of the crumb was slate grey with a tint of purple and it tasted like the Sespe. I was overjoyed. I had made my first true Ojai loaf of bread made with fields of wild buckwheat.