Buckwheat Tincture & Alcohol-Free Extract

Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) is a fast-growing annual of the knotweed family, Polygonaceae, native to the mountains of southwestern China and Tibet and grown as a grain crop across Russia, Ukraine, China, Japan, and the northern United States, although it is not a grass and not related to wheat. It grows 60 to 100 centimeters with hollow, often reddish stems, broad heart-shaped leaves, and dense clusters of small white to pink flowers that bees work heavily, producing dark, molasses-flavored honey. Within weeks the flowers set hard, three-sided, dark brown achenes about 5 millimeters long whose starchy kernel is the groat of kasha and soba noodles. We extract the dried seed.