Alison Weisskopf and Dorian Q Fuller, Buckwheat: Origins and Development. Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology 2014, pp 1025-1028
link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-1-4419-0465-2_2310
Quote:
Buckwheat "is one of only three important non-grass starchy grain crops, or pseudo-cereals, the others being grain amaranth * * * and various chenopods, such as Andean quinoa
“The whole hulled seeds are used as breakfast food and to thicken soups. Dehulled grains, milled to remove the pericarp, are used in kasha, a traditional Russian dish.
“The [genus] name Fagopyrum is derived from the Greek fagos, beech and pyrum, wheat. The common name, buckwheat, is from Buchswein, German for beech wheat on account of the triangular seeds that look like small beech nuts.
“Buckwheat is an annual plant with * * * triangular acute leaves 5–10-cm long
“Plants grow to full height of around 1 m in about 6 weeks and the seeds ripen at around 10–11 weeks. This short growth cycle allows for cultivation in highly marginal habitats and short high elevation summers, although buckwheat has low yield compared to other grain crops. Buckwheat extends easily to above 3,000 m under cultivation, and is grown alongside barley at the highest elevations.
“The wild progenitor of F. esculentum is thought to be F esculentum ssp ancestralis, which has a limited distribution in the mountains of western Yunnan and Sichuan (Fig. 2). It has a narrow distribution, growing at 1,000–1,500 m above sea level in barren rocky habitats with poor soils along the Jinsha River, Yunnan, and the Yalong River in Sichuan never entering cultivated fields (Ohnishi 2004). [In fig 2, the F esculentum ssp ancestralis (where ssp stands for “subspecies”) is the small egg-shaped standing on its end--within the darker band of wild Fagopyrum tartaricum overlaying the Himalayas.
My comment:
(a) There is no need to read the rest of the article. But do view the figures.
(b) buckwheat
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckwheat
(Despite the name, buckwheat is not related to wheat, as it is not a grass)
Quote: "In the northeastern United States, buckwheat was a common crop in the 18th and 19th centuries. Cultivation declined sharply in the 20th century due to the use of nitrogen fertilizer, to which maize and wheat respond strongly. Over 1,000,000 acres (400,000 ha) were harvested in the United States in 1918. By 1954, that had declined to 150,000 acres (61,000 ha), and by 1964, the last year annual production statistics were gathered by USDA, only 50,000 acres (20,000 ha) were grown.
(c) I left Taiwan in 1984. At the time, I had not seen buckwheat 蕎麥 or tasted soba (Japanese 蕎麥麵). But in recent years, Japanese noodle chains have come to Taiwan to establish branches.
(d)
(i) kasha
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kasha
(ii) What We Believe. Kashi (company), undated
www.kashi.com/what-we-believe("Kashi? Hey, That's a Funny Name[:] * * * A blended term inspired by [Hebrew] 'Kashruth,' meaning kosher or pure food, and 'Kushi,' from the founder of American macrobiotics [Michio KUSHI 久司 道夫 (1926- ; born in Japan and now lives in Brookline, Massachusetts], our name stands for wholesome foods made with real nutrition. Serendipitously, we later learned Kashi has meanings in other languages: ‘porridge’ in Russian, ‘happy’ in Chinese, and ‘energy’ in Japanese [I doubt the last two]”)
|
发表于 12-6-2014 13:50:07
收藏
分享
支持
反对
楼主