Barley – Try it You’ll Love it.
If you have only encountered barley in mushroom barley soup, get ready to make friends with this under appreciated cereal grain. Whether pearled, hulled, or quick cooking, it can help transform your diet into a healthy one. In fact, think of barley as your new white rice.
Unlike white rice, which has a sky high glycemic level, barley’s is low, thanks to its significant stash of soluble fiber. In fact, eating barley instead of white rice slashes the effect on your blood sugar by almost 70 percent. Add it to soups, use it instead of Arborio rice (the worst rice offender of all) in risotto, and serve it as a nutty, flavorful side dish. The possibilities are endless.
Because of its insoluble fiber content it slows the rate at which food leaves the stomach. This helps you feel full on fewer calories.
Health Bonus of Barley
Because it contains the same kind of cholesterol lowering fiber found in oats, barley has the FDA approval for its ability to lower cholesterol and cut the risk of heart disease.
Know your barley?
Hulled barley (barley groats): Only the outer hull of the grain is removed; the bran is left intact. This is the least processed, most nutritious type.
Pot or Scotch barley: This is more processed than hulled barley but retains some of the bran layer.
Pearled barley: This is much more processed, with the outer hull and bran removed. Because the soluble fiber runs all the way through the grain, however, this type is still a smart choice.
Quick Cooking barley: Similar to pearled barley in taste and nutrition, this is presteamed, so it takes only about 10 minutes to cook compared to an hour for other types.
Barley flour: This provides more than three times the fiber of refined white flour. For baking, combine it with wheat flour; otherwise, it won’t rise.
Barley flakes: Made from flakes – rolled and dried barley, these are cooked for hot cereal.
