Lil Bucks "Sports!" Pink Hat

The real question is, why isn’t the entire United States sprinkling crunchy buckwheat goodness on their brekky every morning? Shouldn’t the buckwheat flower be our national flower or something? What is our national flower? Anyways, here’s the deal: sprouted buckwheat seeds add this addictive crunch you really won’t find anywhere else—not from baked granolas or any kind of nut. We love crunch, so this is important. Beyond the crunch, let’s talk HEALTH: “superfood” doesn’t have an official definition, but buckwheat defines it. It’s a gluten-free, grain-free FRUIT SEED (yup) that’s high in plant-based protein, fiber, antioxidants (some studies say 10x more than quinoa), magnesium and more. Learn about all the buckwheat benefits here, and why we process buckwheat the way we do to make Lil Bucks.

TL;DR: We are obsessed with buckwheat because it’s amazing for humans and the planet, it’s versatile and it tastes amazing.

We hear you - the word “buckwheat” is confusing because it actually does not contain any wheat at all! It’s a grain-free FRUIT SEED more closely related to rhubarb and strawberries than actual wheat.

Fun fact - the word is thought to have come from the Dutch word boecweite, AKA “beech wheat". The triangular buckwheat seeds reminded the Dutch of the larger but also triangular beech nuts from the beech tree, and then the use for these seeds is similar to a grain so wheat came into play. We decided to name our company Lil Bucks to drop the wheat from buckwheat and just call ‘em bucks! And they’re cute ‘lil seeds, so hence “Lil”. 😉

Yup! Technically buckwheat seeds are fruit seeds coming from a flowering plant. They are gluten-free and grain-free, and thus make a great substitute for grains for those following a paleo or mostly grain-free diet. We are careful to only source other paleo ingredients when formulating our products to make this a great option for paleo and gluten free eaters! 

Glad you asked! Read up on our regenerative agriculture mission here, but real quick: buckwheat is a wonderful cover crop for organic farmers, bringing nutrients back into the soil for future crops, making those more nutritious. Our soil desperately needs this. Our goal is to elevate demand for buckwheat in the U.S. so we can get more organic farmers to include buckwheat in their crop rotations. Right now our buckwheat comes from farms around Minnesota and North Dakota, and starting in March 2022 we’ll be making products from our exclusive partnership with amazing regenerative organic farmer A Frame Farm in Minnesota. We are proud to be the first buckwheat brand in the U.S. that is committed to using sustainably grown American buckwheat.

We’ve been on a JOURNEY to find compostable pouches that still protect the integrity of the product, and we’re still on that journey, so for now we still need to use plastic pouches (read up on that saga here). So in the meantime, we partnered with RePurpose Global to become #PlasticNeutral certified. We commit to removing 47 plastic bags from the environment for every bag of Lil Bucks we sell. It’s awesome—you can even become plastic neutral yourself by taking their quiz here. 

Once you place your order, it’ll process within 1 business day. From there we’ll ship it out and send you your tracking number once it’s out the door. Give your tracking number 24 hours to update once you receive it, and then wait patiently to buck up your meals–they’ll be changed forever!