Buckwheat porridge with a twist

Cooking buckwheat groats into a porridge makes for a hearty and health breakfast filled with slow-digesting carbs and bioactive compounds. Actually, buckwheat porridge made with kasha, toasted buckwheat groats, is a traditional Eastern European breakfast staple. 

Another notable preparation option for buckwheat porridge is sprouted buckwheat. This raw porridge is quickly made in a blender after sprouting buckwheat for 2-3 days. You just toss buckwheat sprouts, chia seeds, sweetener, vanilla, and nut milk to a blender until smooth. Presto! You have breakfast.

This breakfast recipe is what my husband likes to call breakfast dessert. 

Sprouted buckwheat porridge 

As expanded on in a recently posted article on buckwheat, sprouted buckwheat enhances the levels of many nutrient and non-nutrient compounds responsible for the following health benefits:

• lowers blood sugar
• reduces blood pressure 
• lowers inflammation
• protects against Alzheimer’s
• lowers cholesterol
• prevents against cancer

Furthermore, sprouting buckwheat also degrades antinutrients, specifically trypsin inhibitors and phytic acid. Removing these through sprouting or fermenting makes buckwheat easier to digest, better for the gut, and more plentiful in nutrients (refer to my how-to article on sprouting buckwheat for a more detailed description on antinutrients in buckwheat).

Why keep buckwheat sprouts raw?

You could cook sprouted buckwheat and use in place of regular buckwheat groats in any recipe, not just buckwheat porridge. However, using raw sprouted buckwheat, as in the Sprouted Buckwheat Porridge below, retains enzymes that actually help digest food. Enzymes from raw food serve to supplement digestive enzymes in our body, leading to better digestion and health as we age. 

I wouldn’t eat all of my grains or pseudocereals (e.g. buckwheat, quinoa, amaranth) raw after sprouting, but raw buckwheat sprouts – whether blended into a porridge, dehydrated, or thrown onto a salad – are soft, pleasant, and safe. 

There are recipes on the internet that make raw buckwheat porridge with soaked yet non-sprouted buckwheat groats. This method will enhance some health benefits compared to cooking buckwheat using dry groats. Still, soaking won’t optimize therapeutic compounds nor eliminate antinutrients to the extent that sprouting will.

Sprouting buckwheat

Sprouting buckwheat is easy. Familiarize yourself with the sprouting instruction before beginning. after getting into the habit of rinsing, there is nothing to it.

Be aware that tails of buckwheat sprouts start to turn brown when grown for longer than 4 days. These sprouts will also taste more earthy.

The optimal time to sprout buckwheat is 2-3 days. The tail length won’t make much of a difference if you are blending the sprouts, as in this buckwheat porridge. I’ve used buckwheat sprouts that have sprouted for 84 hours (3.5 days). The taste was indistinguishable from younger sprouts, and have more bioactive compounds.

Safety notes

Follow proper sprouting technique and there is little to worry about. The main ways to prevent spoilage are to:

• use organic, intact seeds (groats) with minimal chips or splitting
• use buckwheat seeds that germinate well (old seeds may not germinate)
• rinse seeds every 8-12 hours or 2-3X per day
• allow for thorough drainage
• use a wide mouth jar for adequate ventilation
• soak and rinse seeds with uncontaminated water
• ensure you begin new batches of sprouts in clean jars with well cleaned sprouting lids

This is one of my favourite breakfasts. It just takes some planning to ensure buckwheat is sprouted. Really, it only takes 2-3 days to sprout, so sprouts are ready in no time.

Enjoy!