BARLEY: NUTTIER IS BETTER;
ROASTED AND TOASTED
IS BEST

           Gourmet minded, we are urged to roast, toast and sauté for much-in-demand nutty  flavors. We do this with spices, nuts and grains destined for savory dishes – roast in a dry skillet, shaking often – then, sauté with a little oil, stirring diligently. It doesn’t take too long. 

        It’s nothing new. The early Greeks knew this when they observed a wedding rite by toasting barley in front of  wedding chambers to emphasize a linkage between  agriculture, fertility and social life.  

        Barley, a 10,000-year-old, pre-Stone-age grain, has high nutritional and culinary value. It was used as early as 8000 BCE, however, it took a bad rap when it was upstaged by wheat and rye. Barley’s versatile, produced in highly refined pearls, flour, grits, powder, groats and flakes. Use it in soups, sausages, crackers, casseroles, hot or cold ready-to-eat cereals, snacks, breads, cookies, bagels, side dishes, main dishes and granola. 

Native to Asia and Ethiopia, barley was one of the earliest cultivated plants in Biblical times. The early Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and Chinese depended on barley. Roman gladiators ate a lot of it and were known as ”barley men.” 

These little oatmeal-looking grains were used as a basic unit in the Sumerian measuring system from 4000 to 2000 BCE. To early Egyptian pyramid laborers barley meant sustenance in the form of three loaves of barley flatbread per day and an allotment of beer, a double consumption of barley. In the 5th millennium barley reached Spain and spread north into France and Germany. The ancient grain reached India in the 3rd millennium BCE and China in the 2nd millennium. It probably never appeared in Britain until the Iron Age around 500 BCE.

       In Europe, bread became an implement in the 1200s.  Thick slices of bread, or split flat breads, were called “trenchers” and used as dinner plates. Diners served themselves meat and other foods with their bare hands, and placed the portions before them on trenchers for eating.   

In these times, depending on climates, barley is a drought-resistant crop sown both in the spring or fall. It grows in three varieties: two-rowed barley, six-rowed barley and an irregular type found in Ethiopia. Today’s dominant producers are Australia, USSR, followed by Canada, then the United States and France. In the U.S. barley grows in the Northern Plain states and the Pacific Northwest. 

In addition to table food, barley grain, hay, straw and several by-products are used as animal feed and as malt in certain beverages. Rich in carbohydrates and some protein, barley is low fat and contains no cholesterol, making it effective when managing cholesterol. It also contains potassium, calcium, iron, B vitamins and fiber. For barley with the highest nutrients, look for hull-less barley prior to pearling available in health food stores. This type contains two or three times the protein, is chewier and has a richer flavor. Pearled barley has had its husk, bran and germ removed and is the type available in most supermarkets today. 

SOME WAYS TO USE BARLEY: 

• Add barley to any pilaf recipe by substituting it for one half of the rice. 

• Barley is used in three-grain pilaf with orzo pasta and rice, flavored with raisins, parsley and chopped nuts.
• Enhance the flavor of barley with onion, mushrooms, parsley, thyme, garlic, chives, cilantro, basil dill, carrots and peas.
• Use barley flakes as a cereal.
• Barley flour or meal is ground from pearled barley and must be mixed with gluten-containing flour for yeast breads.
• The Victorians soaked barley in water with lemon and used the sweetened liquid as a health drink. 
• The Scottish made bannock cakes of barley meal, oats, almonds and orange peel cooked on a griddle.
• Tibetan tsampa is a porridge of parched barley flour, yak milk and yak butter.
• The British Royal Navy once treated scurvy victims with a mixture of  barley, raisins, rice and currants mixed with sugar and wine. 

RECIPE: 

NUTTY, TOASTED BARLEY WITH VEGETABLES 

1/2 cup       uncooked pearl barley
1/2 cup       chopped red onion
1/4 cup       sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup       sliced carrot
1/4 cup       chopped green bell pepper
1/4 teaspoon  salt
1/4 teaspoon  black pepper
1 can         chicken broth (14.5 oz.)1
1/4 cup       chopped green onions
1 tablespoon  chopped fresh parsley 

1. Toast barley in dry skillet over medium heat shaking frequently. 

2. Spray skillet with nonstick cooking spray and sauté barley until a golden brown, stirring constantly.

3. Stir in remaining ingredients except green onions and parsley.

4. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer about 50 minutes or until tender.

5. Sprinkle with green onions and parsley, serves 6. 

© Marty Martindale, 2002, Largo FL