Preparing grains correctly: do you need to wash buckwheat before cooking and how to do it

Cereal dishes are regularly present in the diet of every person. Buckwheat is especially popular because it has a unique composition of nutrients and a high fiber content. In order to preserve vitamins and microelements during the cooking process, it is important to follow the rules for preparing the product. The article will answer an important question - is it necessary to wash buckwheat? before cooking.

Do I need to wash buckwheat before using it?

Most often, buckwheat is purchased packaged in transparent cellophane bags. This packaging weighs 800-900 g and allows you to visually determine the quality and contamination of the product. Before cooking, this cereal must be washed several times with cold water.

Why rinse?

You should not completely rely on the manufacturer, even if its products are of high quality. Even in expensive packages you can also find garbage of various origins and low-quality grains.

Not only the health of the digestive tract depends on rinsing, but also the taste, which differs significantly from the taste porridge from unwashed buckwheat. This is easy to check: cook in two versions and try to make sure.

Even cereals intended for baby food may contain various contaminants. In the highest grade buckwheat, the permissible value of impurities is 0.3%, in the third grade - 2 times more. To eliminate them, careful processing is required.

Important! Any variety of buckwheat is washed, regardless of cost.

There is another reason why products are washed before cooking - this is to remove phytic acid, which prevents the body from absorbing useful substances: phosphorus, zinc, potassium, magnesium and other minerals. Buckwheat will be less usefulunless rinsed before cooking.

Where does the garbage come from?

In loose cereals and packaged cereals there is small debris:

1. Broken grains, small particles that do not pass through the sieve in production. Such impurities are not harmful to health, but the cooked porridge will have a viscous consistency.
2. Cores in the fruit shell. Poorly processed cereals can significantly spoil the taste of the finished dish.
3. Pebbles, pieces of ore, sand, slag, small earthen lumps, potentially dangerous to the body. Biting on a small stone while eating can injure a tooth. This type of debris enters during the collection of grains mechanically - it is possible to capture soil particles.
4. Organic litter - husks from grains, particles of buckwheat stems and other nearby crops (also found during harvesting).
5. Black grains of dodder are a weed plant that is found in buckwheat fields.

Cereals, especially loose cereals, must not only be washed, but also carefully sorted by hand.

Instructions for preparing buckwheat

Before cooking, it is sorted to remove large debris and stones. For this:

1. They put the grains in a glass so they know how much to cook and pour them onto the table.
2. Separate small handfuls from the total mass with the palm of your hand and distribute them in a thin layer on the countertop - this way you can better see the fine debris.
3. Unprocessed and empty grains, as well as foreign impurities, are removed.
4. The cleaned grains are swept off the table into a container in which the buckwheat will be cooked.

It is also convenient to inspect the grains in a shallow pan of large diameter, distributing them evenly along the bottom.

How to properly rinse buckwheat before cooking

The cereal, cleared of debris, is placed in a pan, choosing a container with a thick bottom and walls so that the porridge does not burn. Then:

1. Place under the tap and fill with cold water so that its layer is twice as thick as the buckwheat layer.
2. The cereal is stirred with gentle circular movements in one direction, then in the other.
3. The remaining small debris immediately floats to the surface, and as the grain swells, it becomes heavier and settles at the bottom of the pan.
4. The dirty water is carefully drained and the cereal is refilled with clean water. Rinsing is carried out several times until the water becomes clear.

However, small grains of sand may remain at the bottom of the pan, so for additional cleaning it is recommended to rinse the buckwheat under running water through a metal sieve.

Before frying

Roasting makes the cereal crumbly and makes it less boiled, but at the same time buckwheat loses some of its complex carbohydrates. Before calcining the grains, you don’t have to rinse them, but many housewives do not neglect the procedure - it will get rid of the unpleasant aftertaste and sand getting on your teeth. The processing is carried out using the same method as when cooking buckwheat.

However, when washing, the kernels are saturated with moisture and the calcination can partially turn into cooking, after which the grains will become semi-ready. Therefore, many housewives do without washing, but sort out the cereal without fail.

Before germination

Considered the most useful sprouted cereal. Compared to rice, buckwheat contains almost 80 times more antioxidants. “Live” grain helps increase hemoglobin and normalizes the nervous system.

Processing and preparation process:

1. The buckwheat is thoroughly washed and any floating particles are removed.
2. Pour a 2 cm layer of cereal into a container and fill it with clean water for 3 hours.
3. Then pour the cereal into a sieve and rinse under a strong stream of water to get rid of mucus.
4. Place in a container for germination, cover with moistened gauze in several layers, cover with a lid, leaving a gap for air access.
5. The container is kept at room temperature (+18…+24°C) for 12-24 hours.

The appearance of small sprouts indicates that buckwheat is ready to be consumed in its pure form or as an ingredient for salads.

Features of washing green buckwheat

An important step in any method of preparing a dish from unroasted buckwheat is rinsing with running water.

First, the grains are watered with clean water 2-3 times, then soaked in cool water for 2-3 hours, after which the water is drained. Then they are washed 3-4 more times to completely get rid of the mucus that is released when the cereal swells from excess moisture. Wash green buckwheat until the water becomes clear.

Is it necessary to rinse buckwheat in bags?

For the convenience of consumers, buckwheat is packaged in cooking bags, which are usually packed in 5-6 pieces. in a cardboard box. It happens that housewives do not have enough time to sort out and rinse buckwheat several times. In this case, such bags are irreplaceable.

The bags are packaged in 80 or 100 g, the cereal in them is already prepared for consumption and is not washed, even if the package is opened to add to the soup.

Conclusion

Buckwheat is endowed with wonderful taste and many beneficial properties that need to be preserved in the process of preparing it for use.Regardless of the quality of the product and the method of preparation, buckwheat, like other cereals, is first sorted and then washed. This makes it tastier and healthier. In addition, the risks of foreign impurities harmful to the body are eliminated.