notes (due respectively to pyrazines, salicylaldehyde, aldehydes, and pyridines) Buckwheat flour contains a small amount of mucilage, a complex carbohydrate a bit like amylopectin — it’s made up of about 1,500 sugar molecules bonded together into a branched structure Though a minor component in the flour, the mucilage absorbs water and may provide some of the stickiness that barely holds an all-buckwheat noodle together (p 577) Buckwheat is a staple food in parts of China, Korea, and Nepal In the Himalayan region, buckwheat is used to make chillare, a flatbread, as well as fritter-like pakoras and sweets In northern Italy, it’s mixed with wheat to make flat noodles called pizzoccheri, and mixed with corn meal in polenta In Russia it’s used to make the small pancakes called blini; and whole groats are toasted to make the nutty-tasting porridge kasha In Brittany it produces distinctive crêpes The Japanese make soba, buckwheat noodles In the United States it’s most often encountered in pancakes, to which it contributes tenderness and a nutty aroma Quinoa Quinoa is a native of northern South America, was domesticated near Lake Titicaca in the Andes around 5000 BCE, and was a staple food of the Incas, second in importance only to the potato Chenopodium quinoa is in the same family as beets and spinach The grains are small yellow spheres between and mm across The outer pericarp of many quinoa varieties contains bitter defensive compounds called saponins, which can be removed by brief washing and rubbing in cold water (prolonged soaking deposits saponins within the seed) Quinoa can be cooked like rice or added to soups and other liquid dishes; it’s also popped, and is ground and made into a variety of flatbreads Legumes: ... Lake Titicaca in the Andes around 5000 BCE, and was a staple food of the Incas, second in importance only to the potato Chenopodium quinoa is in the same family as beets and spinach The grains are... between and mm across The outer pericarp of many quinoa varieties contains bitter defensive compounds called saponins, which can be removed by brief washing and rubbing in cold water (prolonged... soaking deposits saponins within the seed) Quinoa can be cooked like rice or added to soups and other liquid dishes; it’s also popped, and is ground and made into a variety of flatbreads Legumes: