Barley

Barley, the Wonder Grain? Asks Gary Sims
             Lynn Siprelle
             Edmund Burton
             Gary Sims
             Jan Garvin
             Rosemary Davis
             John Marmet
             Sara Waterson
             Don Seltzer
             Doug Essinger-Hileman
             John Gosden

Barley, the Wonder Grain? Asks Gary Sims
So we serve a mixture of barley, oats, wheat and a soupçon of alfalfa to our stock. When we went to Marie Callenders tonight, Cindy asked: Is the barley in the soup here the same as our barley/oats mix? And I said yes, and then she asked where else barley is used. Uh... Do you know I can't think of another use to save my pride, except the obvious: beer? Now I admit beer is a staple of civilization and sufficient reason by itself to nurture barley, even if livestock didn't like it so much. But surely... Bread? Never heard of barley bread. Anyone? Where else do we use barley besides soup and beer -- which are essentially the same thing to people of taste of course?

Lynn Siprelle
Yes, there is barley flour used in some breads, especially traditional breads. Malt is barley. Barley syrup is used as a sweetener in all kinds of things.

Edmund Burton
I believe Scotch and Irish whisky is made from malt.

Gary Sims
Sure that's enough excuse for the stuff right there. Beer and Scotch? And even uisge beatha? The very water of life? A fine Heaven-sent grain it is then, and could it be what the Bible meant by 'manna'?

Jan Garvin
Barley thrives in a colder, wetter climate than does wheat, so a few hundred years ago, in many northern climes, barley and oats were the staple grains of the poorer classes. The "white bread" of legend is often just wheat bread. It was a luxury. Barley is extremely high in fiber and is often added to commercial wheat breads to improve their ummm...digestive qualities.

Rosemary Davis
It's sometimes used in Eastern European cooking to "stretch" dishes. My mother also added cooked barley to sauerkraut because it gently neutralizes some of the sharpness of taste. I have a recipe I'm hoping to try soon that involves barley, turnips, celery and some other things that I can't remember now. I rarely cook but that one sounded good for some reason, and there's a recent book on beer entitled Travels With Barley...
Vegan Barley Dish
It's quite hearty and filling. The asterisks denote alterations I made to the original recipe.
For the impatient, note that the barley needs to be soaked overnight before you make this...
*1 large onion
2 tablespoons oil (I use olive oil)
2 carrots, sliced
2 stalks of celery, sliced
1 cup of barley
8 oz. (1 cup) raw potato, cubed
8 oz. (1 cup) raw turnip, cubed
2 cups vegetable broth
Salt
*Pepper
Measure 1 cup barley, then fill cup with water to 2-1/2 cup level. Soak overnight.
I did not use the onion because I don't like onion, but you are supposed to sauté it in the oil in a large pot for about 5 minutes, then add carrots and celery and sauté for another 4 minutes. (I just sautéed the carrots and celery).
Add barley and liquid.
Add potato and turnip.
Add vegetable broth. Salt and pepper to taste. (I don't like black pepper, so I used chipotle pepper.)
Heat to boiling, then cover and cook for 40 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed (for me, this was at around 35 minutes) and barley is soft. Toward the end, you will need to stir it to keep it from sticking as there is less liquid.

John Marmet
Where else do we use barley besides soup and beer?
Which its:
barley risotto
pearl barley, pea and lettuce stew
barley salad
baked barley
roasted barley salad
lemon barley water
barley water
bean and barley soup
barley and lamb stew
barley bread
egg barley farfel
grilled vegetable barley risotto
Go to Food Network. Punch in barley and enjoy.

Sara Waterson
Which you are all ignoring the foremost use of barley, which is by the Scots, who lived on oats and barley for centuries.
The principal grain used, oats, was in porridge, made from flaked oats and eaten for breakfast - the Scots flavoured it with salt but most people now use brown sugar or - yummy - Golden Syrup. And in oatcakes, which are smallish round biscuits made on a griddle; people eat them now with cheese. The main use of barley was in scones or 'barley cakes'. And in the form of 'pearl barley' ie whole barley grains, in a lamb soup or stew - this last was a staple in all the mountainous sheep-rearing areas of northern Britain, especially the Sottish Highlands. In Scotland it was called Scotch Broth.
Barley Broth [Scotch Broth]
1 neck of mutton
1 cup diced carrot
8 oz. barley
1 cup diced turnips
1/2 cup dried peas
2 leeks, chopped
3 pt. (approximately) water
2 stalks of celery, chopped
parsley
salt and pepper
Soak peas overnight. Wash the neck of mutton and the barley. Put in a saucepan and cover with water. Add salt and pepper. Bring to the boil and simmer, covered, for 1 1/2 hours. Add all the vegetables and cook for another hour, adding more water if required. Add chopped parsley about 10 minutes or so before broth is ready.
Serves 6
Similarly Beef Barley Soup would be popular in more lowland areas.

Don Seltzer
One of Jack's favorite dishes was Fu-Fu, a pudding-like concoction of barley and treacle.

Doug Essinger-Hileman
I've made some very nice barley salads -- basically cook the barley, cool it if desired, mix in other stuffs (assorted veggies come to mind, but sometimes bacon or diced ham) and top with dressing of choice.

John Gosden
"Malt" is malted barley - barley which has begun to germinate (aka sprout) so that some of the starch is converted to sugar (saccharified), and the enzymes required for further conversion are released. The products are fermented and then distilled in single "pot stills", the shape and size of which varies between distilleries.
And it is the sole ingredient of MALT WHISKY (to which Chesterton referred when he wrote 'Malt does more than Milton can to justify God's ways to man').
Ordinary (blended) Scotch is a mixture of malt whiskies with "grain" whisky, which is distilled from grain (which may or may not be barley) which has been saccharified by acid treatment and is distilled in patent stills which extract all the alcohol but little flavour. In general, the higher the proportion of malt whisky in a blend, the better the whisky and the higher the price. But this does not apply to the so-called "premium" blends (like all the fancy Johnnie Walker Green, Blue, Gold etc.).