<<Disclaimer:  Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

On Tue, 22 Nov 1994 14:08:28 PST Donald D. Kasarda said:

>    Joe, I guess you and I have different sensory responses to buckwheat. To
>me, it doesn't look like wheat, taste like wheat, or behave like wheat, but
>that is obviously a subjective judgement.

I agree that buckwheat is totally different from wheat. I would also add that
buckwheat doesn't SMELL like wheat.  While most people wouldn't detect any
odor in wheat, buckwheat has a very distinctive odor that you either love or
hate, generally.  It is also true that most so-called buckwheat flour does
indeed have some wheat flour mixed in.  In that form, it does 'behave' very
much like regular wheat flour.

>    Bill Elkus made the very important point that many products that feature
>buckwheat or quinoa and so forth in their names or labels may also have
>wheat in them.  My guess is that most buckwheat products (pancake mixes, for
>example) on supermarket shelves contain wheat.

Because my son's response to gluten containing products is behavioral (and
very easy to see!) and almost immediate (within the hour) I feel safe in
asserting that there is no gluten in the quinoa pasta I feed him, or in
buckwheat (kasha) either.  With Quinoa products, you have to be very careful;
the same company makes quinoa + wheat pasta and the boxes look very similar.
It would be easy to confuse. My son responds negatively to even very small
amounts of gluten, and even when I didn't know he'd eaten it I have been able
track the response down.

Also, many soba-type (buckwheat) noodles contain wheat in them.  The labels
are clear but I know that before I was a careful label reader I was CERTAIN
that soba had no wheat.

Lisa Lewis