Barley belongs to the family of sweet grasses. It has been known as a valuable foodstuff for millennia and has been farmed by people since prehistoric times. The oldest proof of the use of barley is estimated to be 15,000 BC. This would make oats the cereal used for the longest time by humans. In certain regions barley continues to be an important foodstuff today: e.g. in North Africa, in Central Asia, in the Horn of Africa, in the Middle East, in the Andes as well as in the Baltic region.
Thanks to its short vegetation period and its simplicity, barley thrives even in poor areas and high locations (e.g. Valais or Tibet). It is therefore also the type of cereal that can be farmed in northern regions.
Barley is often associated with beer. It offers the basis for barley melt, which is necessary for beer brewery. Barley is also required for the manufacture of whiskey.
Due to its comparably poor baking properties, barley has long since been replaced by wheat as a bread cereal. Nevertheless, it is useful for far more than just the production of alcoholic beverages.
Over the past few years the interest in barley as a foodstuff has greatly increased worldwide as well as domestically. The main reason for this is the many healthy properties of barley in terms of reduced cholesterol and glucose tolerance, which has been scientifically proven and acknowledged in the meantime.
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From a health point of view, barley is primarily of interest thanks to its high beta-glucane content, a special group of soluble dietary fibres. The cholesterol-reducing effect of beta-glucane has now been scientifically proven and was also recognised by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in 2011. The positive effect on the cholesterol level can be experienced following daily ingestion of 3 g of beta-glucane from barley.This quantity can be ingested with just 5-6 tablespoons of beta-barley flakes.
In the domestic kitchen, barley is mainly known in the form of pearl barley (hulled wheat). The hulled, ground and polished grains of barley are particularly easily digestible and are a traditional culinary delight in barley soup, for example.
So-called barley water, a barley extract, is known from ancient times, which is often still used in England. The barley is boiled and sieved. This barley water is seasoned with honey or lemon juice and used for convalescents, as it is often used against fever.