Tip - Barley

Barley with your meal can mean more than beer

Category: What's Cooking
Date: 6/23/99 / The Gaston Gazette
  
By Rick McDaniel

Margie Pasour of Dallas wanted to know something about barley, and 
how to incorporate it into her cooking. Barley has been around since 
the stone age, and has been used by many different cultures in dishes 
ranging from cereals to soups. The botanical name for barley is 
Hordeum Vulgare. A specially processed version can be found in some 
Asian food stores under the name hato mugi.

Barley is a rugged grain, which is grown throughout the northern 
hemisphere, from Asia to the Americas. The grain itself is composed 
of five parts. The two outermost parts are protective hulls, which 
are removed before the grain can be eaten. Inside the hull is another 
layer which protects the endosperm. The endosperm contains most of 
the starch in the grain. At the very center of a grain of barley is 
the pearl.

Barley is a nutritionally balanced food high in protein and 
carbohydrates. It also provides a great deal of bulk by absorbing 2 
or 3 times its volume of the cooking liquid. Most barley consumed in 
the United States is used as animal fodder or to make beer or 
whiskey. You can find barley in most health food stores and some 
gourmet markets. There are four types of barley available. As with 
most grains, the four types differ by the amount of barley removed in 
the milling process.

Types of barley

The most processed is pearled barley, which has had all outer hulls 
and the endosperm removed, leaving only the inner pearl, which is 
off-white in color. Pearl barley is the most common type found in 
stores. Pot or Scotch barley has had the hulls removed to leave the 
endosperm and pearl. Removing the outer husks loses vast majority of 
protein, fiber, fat and minerals. This barley is not commonly found 
in stores.

Hulled barley has only the inedible outer hulls removed, and is the 
least processed barley that humans can eat. This barley can have a 
gritty taste, and people not used to large amounts of fiber may have 
some trouble digesting it. Hulled barley is light brown and quit a 
bit bigger than pearled barley.

The fourth type of barley is sold at Asian food stores, called hato 
mugi, which is used in Japanese barley dishes. The grain is hulled, 
compressed, and enriched.

Hulled barley can be cooked alone and used like rice or any other 
grain. Cook 1 cup of barley with 3 cups of water flavored with garlic 
and onions for an hour and 15 minutes. Try serving it with steamed 
vegetables. Pearled barley takes about 15 minutes less to cook.

Pearl barley can also be steamed. One cup of water and 1 cup of 
barley can be steamed for 1 hour, then mixed mixed with beans for a 
different main or side dish. Barley can also be ground or cracked and 
used to make crackers or flavor bread. Barley doesn't contain enough 
gluten to make bread out of barley flour, though.