Last weeks Discovery Kitchen adventure, involved Shagbark Organic buckwheat Polenta hot cereal, made with simple ingredients. The cereal was a hot commodity at some of the local Athens County libraries. We made a sweet and savory version of this hot cereal. The Shagbark Organic Buckwheat Polenta Hot Cereal was easy to prepare, organic, and has a ton of great nutritional benefits.
For those of you that didn't know about Shagbark Seed & Mill, Shagbark has been providing Ohio cooks with Ohio-grown, Certified Organic dry beans and freshly milled grains, since 2010. They grind their certified organic grains weekly, in Athens! They also partner with local bakeries and tortillerias to produce some of their other amazing products. Including products like, pasta, corn tortillas, black bean and corn tortillas and corn bread crackers! Go to their website for more information on how you can locate these awesome Shagbark products near you: https://shagbarkmill.com/
At the Athens libraries last week, we prepared a sweet version of the buckwheat as well as a savory version. The sweeter version had added soy milk, cinnamon and maple syrup. We gave the tasters the option of adding pumpkin seeds, bananas, dried mulberries as well as maple syrup to their sweet hot cereal! A lot of tasters enjoyed the savory hot cereal, where we added onions, kale and black pepper, and a dash of salt. And gave the tasters the option of adding garlic powder or black pepper.
Our activity this week was for individuals to participate in a grain guessing game where they were asked to place the correct label onto jars containing various grains. It gave tasters an opportunity to learn more about whole grains!
This week gave CFI the opportunity to dive into the nutritional aspect of buckwheat. After doing research, I found that buckwheat is actually a seed and is gluten free! It supports heart health and help prevent diabetes and other chronic disorders. Buckwheat also provides consumers with protein, containing 8 essential amino acids as well as fiber, Vitamin E, most B vitamins and many minerals. I would consider buckwheat as a plant-based superfood!
