[Sca-cooks] buckwheat?

[Harris Mark.S-rsve60]

Margaret mentioned:
>>>>
Buckwheat?! Dad's family (PA, Lewisburg and environs) always used
cornmeal. Never had it with buckwheat. We always used buckwheat flour for
pancakes, but that's the only way I had it growing up. A pancake made from
buckwheat flour is an incredibly unappetizing brownish grey--but they
taste really good.

Great. Now I'm hungry, and not only do I not have anything remotely
similar to scrapple in the house, the diet wouldn't allow me to have it
anyway. Or, for that matter, buckwheat pancakes. *pout*
<<<<
So, what *is* buckwheat? Other than an character in an old video series? I may have had buckwheat pancakes in the past, but what is it? Is buckwheat a type of wheat? Or some other grain? Or is it wheat that has been treated, or not treated, in a specific manner?

Stefan