Buckwheat flour and the noodles made from it. The flour is darker and less sticky than wheat flour, so in the north it is pressed through a wooden press into thick round strands, often bound with elm bark flour.
Northern Shaanxi buckwheat helê noodles have a great chew.
Tips
usage
Can mean both the raw flour and the noodles. A staple in cool-climate regions where wheat struggles - Shanxi, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia, Yunnan - served as 饸饹, 剁面, or cold 凉粉. Note it's written 荞面 (simplified) but 蕎麵 in traditional.