page_title: Buckwheat
section_title: Upholstery filling
hierarchical_section_title: Buckwheat / Upholstery filling
caption_attribution_description: English: Buckwheat hulls, close up.
context_page_description: Buckwheat, or common buckwheat, is a plant cultivated for its grain-like seeds and as a cover crop. The name "buckwheat" is also used for a number of other species. A related and bitterer species, Fagopyrum tataricum, is a domesticated food plant raised in Asia. Despite the name, buckwheat is not related to wheat, as it is not a grass. Instead, buckwheat is related to sorrel, knotweed, and rhubarb. Buckwheat is referred to as a pseudocereal because its seeds' culinary use is the same as cereals', owing to their composition of complex carbohydrates.
context_section_description: Buckwheat hulls are used as filling for a variety of upholstered goods, including pillows and zafu. The hulls are durable and do not insulate or reflect heat as much as synthetic filling. They are sometimes marketed as an alternative natural filling to feathers for those with allergies. However, medical studies to measure the health effects of pillows manufactured with unprocessed and uncleaned hulls concluded that such buckwheat pillows do contain higher levels of a potential allergen that may trigger asthma in susceptible individuals than do new synthetic-filled pillows.
caption: Buckwheat hulls
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot A640", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Elements 10.0 Macintosh", "Image DateTime": "2014:01:31 21:27:25", "Image ExifOffset": "226", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/200", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2013:10:27 14:01:40", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2013:10:27 14:01:40", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "245/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "95/32", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "95/32", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "73/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "400", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "300", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "1410899/111", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "394493/31", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Portrait"}