Barley Packs a Nutritional Punch

Barley is an often over-looked and under-rated staple.

When buying barley, choose the "pot barley" over the "pearl barley." The pot barley is whole-grain barley, whereas the pearl barley has been pearlized or polished, resulting in loss of bran.
The world produces about 150 million tonnes of barley annually, with the top 5 producing countries being Russia, Canada, Germany, France and Ukraine. (as of 2005, according to Wikipedia.)

Barley is nutritious, delicious, and filling. Barley can be cooked and used in a variety of ways, including any way in which you would use rice. Barley has a lot of potential as part of your culinary repertoire. Here are a few of the grand productions that barley has been known to regularly participate in: Beef & barley soup, barley pilaf, barley risotto with mushrooms, Barley-stuffed squash, Greek barley salad.

Some of the benefits of barley include:

• Helps to regulate blood sugar up to 10 hours after consumption
• Contains all 8 essential amino acids
• Has a long storage life as a dry grain
• Works well in crock-pot cooking
• Is cheap to buy
• Is easy to make
• Is readily available
• Research has proven that barley lowers cholesterol levels
• Improves intestinal health
• Increases immunity to diseases
• Reduces insulin resistance
• Promotes weight-loss
• High in dietary fiber
• Good source of zinc, folate, potassium, selenium, phosphorus.
  

The list of health benefits goes on, but I think you can see that barley is a neglected nutritional powerhouse.

3 Recipes using barley to start you out:

Barley Soup
(rinse barley before using)
3/4 cup barley
1 beef, lamb or pork soup bone
1 small onion, diced
1 medium potato, cut up
1 large carrot, cut up
1/4 cup celery, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
a few sliced mushrooms if desired

Boil barley and soup bone for 35-40 minutes in 2 1/2 quarts of water. Add the remaining ingredients and seasoning and simmer until tender, about 30 minutes.

Barley Pilaf
Pre-heat oven to 375.
1/2 cup pot barley, rinsed
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
parsley, 2 Tbsp fresh or 1 Tbsp dried
2 Tbsp olive oil or butter
salt and pepper to taste

Saute onion in oil for 5 minutes; add garlic and barley and saute 1 more minute.
Set aside 1/2 cup of the broth and then add all remaining ingredients together into a casserole dish, including onion and barley mixture. Cover and bake for 75 minutes. Remove lid and add reserved 1/2 cup broth. Stir slightly, re-cover and bake 30 minutes longer.
Notes:
If your family prefers chewier barley, reduce cooking time and liquid by 1/4 cup.
Make the recipe once and then tweak it to suit your tastes for the next time.

Bean & Barley Salad
1 cup cooked barley
3 cup cooked or canned beans, drained (variety of pink, chickpeas, white, etc.)
1 cup chopped raw vegetables (mixture of celery, onions, red peppers, mushrooms, etc.)
Your favorite salad dressing
Salt and pepper to taste.

This salad works best if prepared ahead and marinated in salad dressing. Zesty Italian or similar works well. You can play around with the proportions of barley to beans to raw veggies and use whatever strikes your fancy. Let your creative genius flow.