For travelers, vast fields of buckwheat are a joy to the eye, but for locals, it's just food - plain and simple.

Year-end is the time when ethnic people in the northern highlands of Vietnam, such as Ha Giang Province, roll up their sleeves to harvest buckwheat, a type of grain they use to make cakes and wine.

Buckwheat is common across Vietnam's northern mountainous region, but in recent years it has become famous thanks to photos and videos of the delicate flowers posted online that have lured more and more travelers to the region.

A buckwheat crop grows from September to December, and this is why autumn is the most crowded season in the region, when visitors flock to drive motorbikes through mountain passes for a sightseeing tour of buckwheat flowers in white and pastel pink.

But for locals here, mostly ethnic people, the plant is purely a source of food. They usually pick young buckwheat plants to serve as vegetables.

One month after sowing, buckwheat plants blossom and the flowers stay open for a month before the grain is born. Thanks to the sightseeing boom, locals here have another source of income from charging visitors a small fee to take photos of their buckwheat fields.

Mong ethnic people in Ha Giang Province harvest buckwheat grain by using a stick to smash the plants.

"My family usually harvests 30 kilograms of buckwheat grains each year. We store it for food at home rather than selling it. For the past three years, we have been expanding our field to attract more tourists,” said Thao in Dong Van District.

A farmer tosses the grain in the air so the wind blows away the chaff.

According to local people, buckwheat is good for the digestion and other health problems. Northern Vietnam is not the only place where buckwheat is popular. In Japan, people use the starch from the grain to make Soba noodles.

After separating the grain, people use whatever is left of the plants to feed their cattle and make fertilizer for their farms.

Source: VnExpress