Many young housewives do not assume that before cooking ordinary buckwheat porridge, the cereals were fried in a pan. There are several reasons why our grandmothers performed this procedure, and some of them are still relevant today.
Why did you fry buckwheat before
Pre-frying is an additional heat treatment. Previously, buckwheat, like other cereals, was sold in bulk, and it was often stored in damp rooms in linen bags. That is why the grain was sometimes damp, mold fungi actively multiplied in it, and sometimes bugs and worms. Therefore, frying in a pan helped not so much kill bacteria as it helped to remove the unpleasant odor that cereals have when stored in improper conditions.
Since the quality of buckwheat often left much to be desired, during this procedure impurities were separated from it - accidentally ingested oats or peas, the husk was chosen. After all, it is more convenient to do this by scattering the grain on a flat surface. In addition, they also tried to fry the newly bought buckwheat, because with the help of high temperature it is possible to kill insect eggs so that parasites do not multiply in the cereal during storage.
To kill insects and bacteria that have settled in the cereal, you can put it in the freezer for 6 hours. But it will not be possible to cope with mold in this way - only high temperatures are terrible for disputes.
Do I need to fry buckwheat today
Nowadays, the situation with cereals is somewhat different. There are practically no frankly bad raw materials in stores. Moreover, buckwheat packaged in beautiful vacuum bags does not cost much more than what is commonly called a slice. Manufacturers, in the struggle for a buyer, impose ever higher requirements on cereals, comply with all storage and packaging standards, so the likelihood that beetles will start in closed packaging is rather low. Therefore, in principle, it is not necessary to fry good buckwheat after purchase or immediately before cooking.
Purchased buckwheat can be stored both in tightly closed containers and in the manufacturer's packaging; often these bags have an adhesive reusable fastener.
Grandma's recipe
Nevertheless, frying buckwheat in a pan before cooking cannot be called a useless procedure. A sharp increase in the temperature of cereals stimulates the release of buckwheat oil on its surface. That is why it has a special aroma, the porridge itself becomes crumbly, and the grains do not boil.
By the way, many housewives fry rice and even oatmeal before cooking, the latter, according to their assurances, acquire a pleasant nutty aroma. In this case, there are two ways to process cereals - with the addition of a small amount of vegetable or butter, or in a dry, well-heated frying pan.
