Barley

Barley is an annual grass whose flower spikes carry long bristles called awns, with the grains arranged in two or six rows along the stem. Each grain is a plump, spindle-shaped kernel, usually enclosed in a husk that sticks to it in most varieties.

Hulled barley has only the outer husk removed and keeps its bran, so it is chewy and tan. Pearl barley is polished to remove more of the bran, giving a whiter, softer grain that cooks faster.

The flavour is mild, nutty and slightly sweet. Barley is sold as whole grain, pearled, flakes, grits, flour, malt and roasted grain for tea or coffee substitutes.

Barley was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent of Southwest Asia, probably more than ten thousand years ago, from the wild species Hordeum vulgare subsp. spontaneum. Archaeological sites in the Levant and Mesopotamia hold some of the earliest evidence of its cultivation.

It spread early to Egypt, the Mediterranean, Europe, India and East Asia, and later became a staple on the Tibetan plateau, where hulless barley remains the basis of tsampa.

The English word barley comes from Old English baerlic, linked to a root meaning barley or grain. The Latin name Hordeum is the classical Roman word for the grain.

Barley has fed people and animals since the dawn of agriculture. In ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt it was a staple food, a form of payment for labour and the basis of beer, one of the oldest fermented drinks. Greek athletes and Roman gladiators were sometimes nicknamed for eating it.

Because it tolerates cold, drought and salty soils better than wheat, barley became the main bread grain of poorer households in northern Europe through the Middle Ages, long before the potato. Wheat was the preferred prestige crop, and barley bread was associated with hardship.

Malting turned barley into the basis of beer and whisky production, which made it central to trade and taxation in Britain, Germany, Ireland and elsewhere. In Japan and Korea, roasted barley tea is a traditional beverage.

Today, most barley grown worldwide is fed to livestock or malted for brewing, while a small share is eaten directly as a grain. Research on beta-glucan has renewed interest in barley as a health food.

Cooks add hulled or pearled barley to soups and stews such as Scotch broth, to risotto-style dishes, salads and pilafs. Barley flour and flakes go into porridge, flatbreads and baked goods, often in combination with wheat.

Malted barley is the essential ingredient of beer, malt vinegar, malted milk and whisky. Roasted barley is steeped as tea in East Asia and brewed as a caffeine-free drink in Europe.

Traditional barley water, a thin boiled and strained drink, has been used in Britain as a soothing beverage for illness.

Young barley grass is dried and sold as a green powder.

Barley is rich in dietary fibre, especially beta-glucan, a soluble fibre which has been shown in controlled trials to help lower LDL cholesterol modestly when eaten regularly in sufficient amounts. Whole-grain forms also provide B vitamins, selenium and manganese.

Because of its fibre, barley has a relatively low glycaemic response compared with refined grains. It is a good part of a diet rich in whole grains, which is associated with better heart health in population studies.