Gryka / Buckwheat Crape with Pear Petals

Gryka – buckwheat is very energizing and nutritious. Contrary to its name, this fruit seed is not in any way related to wheat.
Buckwheat is a gluten free power food.
Best source of high-quality, easily digestible proteins. Buckwheat is a warming food. It is classified by macrobiotics as a yang food. It is great for eating in the cold winter months.
Buckwheat is popular in Poland by the name gryka meaning Greek due to its introduction in the 7th century by Byzantine Greeks.

Buckwheat seeds with their nutty flavor perfectly match the fresh and delicate taste of a pear. In Greek and Roman mythology, pears are sacred to three goddesses: Hera – Juno, Aphrodite – Venus, and Pomona, an Italian goddess of gardens and harvests. The ancient Chinese believed that the pear was a symbol of immortality. (Pear trees live for a long time.) Pears are loaded with dietary fiber, are good sources of potassium. Classical Greek poet, Homer, refers to them as “Gifts of the Gods.”

Buckwheat contains the eight essential amino acids, as well as high proportions of manganese, magnesium and fiber. It also contains two flavanoids. One that is thought to support healing in the body. And a rutin which is an antioxidant, and therefore may inhibit cancer. Rutin also strengthens the capillaries and circulation, thereby reducing painful varicose veins.

Polish meadows, culture and tradition were painted in Adam Mickiewicz`s epic poem “Pan Tadeusz”. Mickiewicz was Polish poet, writer and philosopher. Poland in XIX century didn’t exist on the maps but was pulsing in hearts of Polish people who were always ready to stand up for Her freedom. The book was published in 1834 and it is considered by many to be the last great epic poem in European literature.

Meadows of gryka and a single flower:

“I raised my dead eyelids, and could straightway walk to the threshold of thy shrine to thank God for the life returned me—so by miracle thou wilt return us
to the bosom of our country. Meanwhile bear my grief-stricken soul
to those wooded hills, to those green meadows stretched far
and wide along the blue Niemen; to those fields painted with
various grain, gilded with wheat, silvered with rye; where grows
the amber mustard, the buckwheat white as snow, where the
clover glows with a maiden’s blush, where all is girdled
as with a ribbon by a strip of green turf on which here and there rest quiet pear-trees.”
Adam Mickiewicz “Pan Tadeusz”