Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum)

Japanese: ソバ(蕎麦) - ソバ（英語表記）Fagopyrum esculentum

An annual plant of the Polygonaceae family, native to Central Asia. It grows to a height of 50-80 cm, with a hollow cylindrical stem, often tinged with red. The leaves are alternate, triangular, and heart-shaped at the base. The leaves at the top of the stem have no stalk. From summer to autumn, the plant produces short flower spikes at the ends of the branches, which bear many densely packed white flowers. The inflorescence is hairy in a row, and each flower has five sepals. The fruit has three ridges, which develop into a somewhat wing-like shape, giving it a unique shape. It is green or slightly reddish in color, but when harvested and dried, it turns black-brown. The inside of the plant, excluding the husk, is milled to make buckwheat flour, and the winged husk is used as buckwheat husk for stuffing and pillows. The seeds germinate well in dry areas, have a short growing season, and do not require much fertilizer, so it grows well on cultivated land, sloping land, and poor soil. For this reason, it is used as a famine crop. Buckwheat flour is produced in many parts of the world, including China, the former Soviet Union, Africa, Canada, and South America, and in Japan, Hokkaido and Kagoshima are the main producers. Buckwheat flour has been known since ancient times and has been eaten as sobagaki (buckwheat dumplings). It is rich in high-quality protein (about 13%) and B vitamins, and does not become viscous and elastic like wheat flour when kneaded with water. For this reason, wheat flour, Chinese yam, chicken eggs, etc. are used as binders to make soba (soba cutlets). Buckwheat flour accounts for about 70-75% of soba, but the Sarashina soba variety has a low yield and is white in color. The Yabu soba variety has a high yield and is black in color.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

タデ科の一年草で，中央アジア原産。高さ 50～80cmで茎は中空の円柱形，紅色を帯びることが多い。葉は互生し，三角形状で基部は心臓形。茎の上部につく葉には柄がない。夏から秋に，枝先に短い花穂を出し白色の小花を多数密につける。花序には1列に毛があり，個々の花は5枚の萼片をもつ。果実には3本の稜があり，やや翼状に発達して独特の形をとる。緑色またはやや赤みを帯びているが，収穫して乾燥すると黒褐色になる。外皮を除いた中身を製粉してそば粉とし，翼のある外皮はそば殻として詰め物や枕に入れる。種子は乾燥地でもよく発芽し，生育期間が短く，肥料をあまり必要としないため，開墾地，傾斜地，不良土にもよく育つ。そのため救荒作物として使われている。世界の生産地域は中国，旧ソ連地区，アフリカ，カナダ，南アメリカと多く，日本では北海道，鹿児島が主産地となっている。そば粉は古くから知られ，そばがきなどとして食された。良質の蛋白質 (約 13%) ，ビタミンB類が多く，水とこねても小麦粉のように粘弾力を生じない。そのため，小麦粉，ナガイモ，鶏卵などをつなぎにして，そば (そば切り) をつくる。そばのうち，そば粉は 70～75%程度であるが，更科 (さらしな) そばの系統のものは歩どまりが低く，色が白い。また藪 (やぶ) そばの系統のものは歩どまりが高く色が黒い。

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