How to Harvest Buckwheat

Buckwheat is a versatile crop whose dehulled seed can be ground in mills and used commercially for breakfast cereals and grits. It is a naturally gluten-free product (officially a fruit related to rhubarb) that can be processed into flour for bread and pancakes for the home cook. Buckwheat is relatively easy to grow, as it does well in poor soils that would limit other crops. The only limitation is that it does not do well in warm-weather climates, so it should be grown in more temperate climates. Harvesting buckwheat is no more difficult than growing buckwheat.

Grass shears or hedge clippers
Large white sheet
Bowl

Instructions

- 1
  Harvest buckwheat as close to the first frost in the autumn as possible; this will increase the yield of ripened seeds.
- 2
  Use garden shears or hedge clippers -- depending on how big of a crop you have planted -- and cut the stalks about three-fourths of the way from the top of the plant.
- 3
  Allow the buckwheat stalks to dry for a day or two; this will make it easier to harvest the seeds.
- 4
  Shake the buckwheat stalks vigorously over a large white sheet. Grab a handful of buckwheat stalks and whack them onto the sheet. Remove any seeds as they come loose.
- 5
  Separate the ripened buckwheat seeds from the unripened seeds and debris. Place the unripened seeds in a bowl and let them sit in warm place with access to sunlight for a few days while they ripen.

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