Buckwheat is due for a serious rebranding effort. Despite the name, it has absolutely no relation to wheat and contains no gluten. In fact it’s not a grain at all, but a pseudo-cereal—a category which includes things like quinoa, amaranth, and chia.
Buckwheat’s misleading name comes from an old Dutch word “boecweit” which means beech wheat. This is a reference to the seed’s grain-like qualities and its resemblance to the beech tree seed. Yet buckwheat has no relation to beech either.
