Buckwheatsicles

These make a delicious breakfast cereal on their own, or can be used as the base for the Good Mood Cacao Pops.

Buckwheat has a misleading name as it’s not wheat at all. Technically it is a seed not a grass and is related to the rhubarb and sorrel family. It’s gluten free too and once sprouted and dehydrated can be turned into a raw flour to be used instead of oat flour in any of the recipes, although buckwheat does have quite a strong flavour. 

Buckwheatsicles my name for sprouted and dehydrated buckwheat. 

Buckwheat is very straightforward to sprout, even if you don’t have a sprouting jar. Just ensure that the buckwheat is raw and not roasted (kasha) before sprouting. Kasha is darker in colour than its raw counterpart.

Soak the buckwheat in filtered water for 4 hours and then rinse thoroughly. You may need to rinse it repeatedly to remove any of the slimy saponin that coats the seeds. The seeds can expand and double in volume when soaked. 

Drain the soaked and rinsed buckwheat, and put it into a large food safe plastic tub and put the lid on loosely so it can still breathe a little. 

After 8 hours, rinse the buckwheat under cold running water and return it to the plastic tub with the lid on loosely. 

Continue this process, rinsing every 8 hours for between 36- 48 hours until the buckwheat has grown little tails. If you feel inside the buckwheat groats with your hand you will feel them getting very warm whilst sprouting. Do not be tempted to over sprout them or the buckwheat can become very bitter. 

Once the buckwheat has sprouted, rinse it well and dehydrate the buckwheat on Teflex sheets at 115 degrees F for 12 hours until it has lots of crunch. 

Oven method: Spread on a baking tray and bake in a low oven until the buckwheat is crisp. 

Any unused dehydrated buckwheat keeps well in an airtight jar for up to six months. 

PRO CHEF GUIDANCE

Do not over sprout the buckwheat or it can become very bitter. Aim for the tails to be no longer than half the length of the seed.

Rinse the sprouted buckwheat well at the end of sprouting and before dehydrating until the buckwheat is no longer ‘slimy’.

Spread the sprouted buckwheat on Teflex sheets rather than mesh screens to dehydrate it or it may fall between the holes in the mesh screen. It will shrink a little as it dries.

These are delicious as a breakfast cereal served with plant milk.