In late July, I found myself standing in a field at dawn in the fertile Skagit Valley in Washington state. Gazing across a patchwork of test plots, each planted with a different variety of wheat, buckwheat or barley, I listened as Prof. Stephen Jones described the work he does with his graduate students. Jones is a Washington State University grain researcher, and a leading voice in the effort to make whole grains taste better.
Between the waving wheat and beautiful barley, I saw a plot filled with flowers. Waist-high and blowzy, the plants were covered with delicate blossoms that ranged from white to pink, and would have made a lovely bouquet for the table.
It was buckwheat.
"That one is from Bhutan. They selected on the beauty of it, for sure," said Jones.
He is working with students to maintain plots of 120 varieties of buckwheat from 19 countries. "We are breeding new varieties ... looking at flavor, color and early maturity."
Why buckwheat?
"Buckwheat is great for the soil, the bees and for us. What is not to like?" Jones said. "It also has strong cultural histories in many regions of the world, from Asia to Europe, Africa, the Americas and beyond.
"In Japan, they grind buckwheat that's been hulled for high-end uses like soba, but in the U.S., we leave the hulls on," said Jones.