Buckwheat pancake

The buckwheat pancake is a pancake made with buckwheat flour.

Variety in the world

In France

Traditional buckwheat pancake with a glass of cider

Brittany

According to the legend, the buckwheat pancake was born thanks to a Breton woman act of clumsiness that would have spilled a buckwheat slop on a hot pebble in the chimney. Since the XIIe century we can find small quantities of buckwheat pollen in the peat lands in Brittany.

The buckwheat culture appeared in Brittany at the beginning of the XVIe century: its output is irregular and low, but it’s not taxed, although it grows on poor grounds and it gives the possibility to harvest in three months. That’s why it’s called “the 100 days plant”. Among many legends about Anne de Bretagne, it is said that she developed its culture. Currently, the local production of buckwheat doesn’t allow to supply the 15 000 ton consumed per year in France, the preparation of the buckwheat pancake call on products from China, Poland and Canada’s importation. A “protected geographic indicator” exists for the Brittany buckwheat flour and the society “Blé noir tradition Bretagne” gathers more than 800 producers and around ten millers in order to promote the buckwheat flour use (4000 tons per year).