Barley flour

“ With us, wheat is chiefly employed for the fabrication of bread. It is, in fact, the only grain of which light porous bread can be made; but rye and barley are also used as bread-corn. The farina of the other cerealia afford also a nutritive and wholesome bread; though their flour is not so susceptible of the panary fermentation, it cannot be made into the white texture of the wheaten loaf. The bread formed from them is consequently much inferior to that prepared from wheat. ”

“ Now, rye is seldom more than two-thirds the price of wheat, and barley is seldom more than half the price of wheat. Half rye and half wheat, taking out a little more of the offal, make very good bread. Half wheat, a quarter rye and a quarter barley, nay, one-third of each, make bread that I could be very well content to live upon all my lifetime; and, even barley alone, if the barley be good, and none but the finest flour taken out of it, has in it, measure for measure, ten times the nutrition of potatoes. ”

“ The Hordeum Zeocriton, L. or Bearded Barley, or Rice Barley, with short and coarse stalks, as likewise short though broad ears, divided into two rows. When cultivated on a good soil, and thinly sown, it is the most productive of all the species of barley, and possesses the additional advantage, that it does not droop its ears nor lodge, even in rainy seasons. Each row contains from twelve to fifteen small grains: these yield an excellent white flour, which, for most culinary purposes, may be substituted for that of wheat. In England, the best home-brewed ale is produced from this grain ”

“ Mix the flour, sugar, and salt in a saucepan with a little cold water. When smooth and free from lumps pour in the boiling water, slowly stirring meanwhile to keep it smooth; then set it on the fire to simmer for ten minutes, continuing the stirring until it is thick. To prevent burning, draw the pan to the side of the stove, unless the fire is very slow, for barley is a grain which sticks and burns easily. At the end of the ten minutes put in the milk, and strain all into a clean saucepan, through a coarse strainer, to make the consistency even. ”

“ This grain is less nutritious and less digestible than wheat, but contains more sugar and more of the phosphates, and is also cooling. It will not make good bread, but is sometimes used for the purpose, mixed with wheaten flour.
Pearl Barley is the whole grain freed from its hulls like rice. It is used in soups, etc., and is sold by all grocers. In the best qualities the grains are large and well rounded. It is sold in bulk and in pound packages.
Oatmeal. Oats are substantial, nutritious and wholesome, being rich in gluten and fat. ”

“ This wonderful transformation of flour into sugar during germination is turned to account by man in making beer. He causes barley to germinate, and when he judges that all the flour substance it contains has turned to sugar he quickly kills the little plants, as otherwise the sweetened liquid would be taken up by them and would undergo another transformation by being turned into plant substance. Accordingly, the grain is promptly dried in an oven, after which it is ground in a mill, and this ground barley is called malt. ”

“ Like wheat and rye, barley is both a spring and winter grain; though with us the seed is usually sown in the spring.
Barley is the most hardy cereal, and may be successfully cultivated over the widest range of climate. It is grown in central Siberia, northern Russia, and in Lapland to latitude 70°. At the opposite extreme, barley flourishes in semi-tropical countries. In 1880 the area of barley in the United States was 1,997,717 acres, with a yield of 44,113,495 bushels. The average yield, therefore, is not far from twenty-five bushels per acre. ”

“ Now let us see how Grape-Nuts food is pre-digested, absolutely without chemicals or any outside ingredients.
First, the Barley is soaked about 100 hours. Then it goes to a warm floor, and the moisture and warmth develop the Diastase, sprout the berries of barley and turn the starchy inside into sugar. You see how exactly like the processes going on in the human body, to produce the same result. Then this barley (after the sprouts are removed) is ground, and the flour ”

“ Flour or meal produced from barley, maize, or rice, cannot be employed satisfactorily for the manufacture of bread unless a considerable portion of wheat flour is added, and in countries where these grains are the staple food of the people they are as often eaten as porridge or mash as in the form of bread.
On examining a grain of corn from any of the numerous cereals used in the preparation of flour, such as wheat, rye, barley, etc., it will be found to consist of the husk, or exterior covering, which is generally of a dark colour, and the inner part, which is more or less white. ”

“ To render barley durable, they strewed over it laurel leaves, or the ashes of laurel wood, as, likewise, everlasting, calaminth, and gypsum, or placed a tightly-corked bottle of vinegar, [1771] in the middle of the heap. To communicate greater plumpness to all kinds of grain, they sprinkled over the piles a mixture composed of nitre, [1772] spume of nitre, and fine earth, which, likewise, acted as a preservative. To render flour more durable, they thrust into it small maple branches, stripped of their leaves, or little cakes of salt and cumin. ”

“ BARLEY BREAD, INDIAN-CORN BREAD, &c.—Bread made from barley, maize, oats, rice, potatoes, &c. "rises" badly, because the grains in question contain but little gluten, which makes the bread heavy, close in texture, and difficult of digestion; in fact, corn-flour has to be added before panification can take place. In countries where wheat is scarce and maize abundant, the people make the latter a chief article of sustenance, when prepared in different forms. ”

“ All except the heart or best part of the grain is thus taken away. The barley, in this state, when boiled, forms a nutritive food; and a decoction of it, properly flavoured with acid, is said to be one of the best beverages that can be adopted in acute diseases. The making of pearl barley is a German invention. In Scotland the lower classes make it by means of hand-mills; and many persons are satisfied with merely ridding the grain of its husks by stamping it in mortars.
Barley-meal is occasionally made into bread by the poor; and it is likewise used for the fattening of poultry and swine. ”

“ The ease with which barley may be substituted directly for wheat in human food and its usefulness to replace wheat milling by-products as feed in the production of the milk supply render its abundant production important. Barley, where it succeeds, yields a larger weight of feed per acre than any other small grain crop. ”

“ The early settlers of New England also largely used it for bread making. At the present day only a very insignificant quantity of barley is used for food purposes in this country, and most of this in the unground state.
Barley is less nutritious than wheat, and to many people is less agreeable in flavor. It is likewise somewhat inferior in point of digestibility. Its starch cells being less soluble, they offer more resistance to the gastric juice. ”

“ In the towns the use of wheaten bread is becoming more general, even among the poorer classes; but in the country parishes, barley bread is the only kind in common use. This is also of a very bad quality. The coarse barley meal is baked in large loaves, which are seldom sufficiently cooked, so that the bread is generally extremely coarse, black and sour, and more like wet dough than bread. ”

“ Barley has been cultivated from the most ancient times; in fact, its cultivation can be traced as far back as man's occupations have been recorded. The grain of this cereal has also played an important part in the advancement of man, for, according to history, some of the present weights and measures originated from it. Thus, the Troy weight grain is said to have been first fixed by finding the average weight of a barley grain, and the inch of linear measure, by placing three grains of barley end to end. ”

“ Boil half a pound of French barley in 3 several waters, keep the last water to make your milk of, then stamp half a pound of almonds with a little of the same water to keep them from oyling; being finely beaten, strain it whith the rest of the barley water, put some hard sugar to it, boil it a little, and give it the party warm. ”

“ Other varieties of cereals than those mentioned flourish, but have not become favorites as in some other countries. Barley is rarely grown throughout the greater part of the country. The United States produces only one-ninth of the barley crop of the world and is exceeded by three of the European countries. Barley is most important in California, where it is used as a stock-food substitute for corn. The other States in which it is most grown are Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and the Dakotas. ”

“ It is now too late in the season to sow wheat. The land is ploughed, but the ploughing is only a shallow one, so that the water stored in the deeper layers of the soil which have been solidified by the trampling of the sheep may not be disturbed. The surface soil turned up by the plough is pulverised by harrowing until a fine seed-bed is obtained, and barley is sown early in the spring. Clover and grass seeds are sown amongst the barley, so that they may take firm root whilst the barley is growing and ripening. The barley is harvested in the autumn. ”

“ If "got up" damp, it is liable to generate excessive heat, in which case the growing power of the germ is destroyed, and the grain rendered useless for malting purposes. Good barley should have a thin, clean, wrinkled husk, closely adhering to a plump well-fed kernel, which, when broken, appears white and sweet, with a germ full, and of a pale yellow colour. It is of all cereals the best adapted for malting, containing as it does more starch and far less gluten than other grain, and about 7 per cent, of ready-formed grape-sugar. Its specific gravity is from 1.280 to 1.333, that of malt 1.200. ”

“ When the crop is to be sold to the brewers, a grain rich in starch should be secured. Barley intended for malting should be fertilized to this end. Many experiments have shown that a fertilizer which contains much potash will produce starchy barley. If the barley be intended for stock, you should breed so as to get protein in the grain and in the stalk. Hence barley which is to be fed should be fertilized with mixtures containing nitrogen and phosphoric acid. Young barley plants are more likely to be hurt by cold than either wheat or oats. ”

“ Modern man however prefers wheat and corn and potatoes to barley, and as a food this ancient crop is in America turned over to the lower animals. Brewers use barley extensively in making malt liquors. Barley grows in nearly all sections of our country, but a few states—namely, Minnesota, California, Wisconsin, Iowa, and North and South Dakota—are seeding large areas to this crop.
For malting purposes the barley raised on rather light, friable, porous soil is best. Soils of this kind are likely to produce a medium yield of bright grain. ”

“ Barley is a kind of grain from which the brewer makes beer.
He must first turn its starch into sugar, so he begins by sprouting his grain.
Of course he does not plant it in the ground, because it would need to be quickly dug up again.
He keeps it warm and moist in a place where he can watch it, and stop the sprouting just in time to save the sugar, before it [47] is used to feed the root and stem. This sprouted grain is called malt.
The brewer soaks it in plenty of water, because the grain has not water in itself, as the grape has. ”

“ Mealiness is important, as it insures a much more ready transformation of the starch into soluble compounds than when the grains are hard and flinty. A musty smell and a stained or discolored appearance of the grain are evidences of injury, and materially reduce the value of barley from the brewer's point of view. The best malting barleys of the world are produced in eastern and south-eastern England. ”

“ This mode of preparing seed wheat, is highly recommended as an assured preservative against the smut, fly, &c., insuring a sound good crop of grain. Barley should be always cut in dry weather, yet not suffered to be too ripe before cutting; stacking it in the field for a few weeks before removing it to the barn, helps and prepares it for malting, by sweating and drying it. Barley, immediately brought to the malt house from the field, rarely makes good malt, as a great proportion of it becomes staggy, and will not grow. ”

“ There is 2.5 per cent. of fat in barley, and 7 per cent. of sugar.
From this analysis we can judge that barley contains all the constituents of a good food. In it we find casin and albumen for our muscles; starch, sugar, and fat to keep us warm and give force; and there is a fair percentage of mineral matter for our bones and teeth.
Allinson's prepared barley may be eaten as porridge or pudding (see directions) , and is much more nourishing than rice pudding; it is also good for adding to broth or soup, and to vegetable stews, and is most useful for making gruel and barley water. ”

“ As soon as the sheaves are dry enough, they are stacked or hauled into barns to prevent exposure to rains or damp weather, which would injure the color of the grain and materially reduce its value. Barley ripens earlier than spring wheat, and is harvested usually just before that crop. When grown for malting purposes, it should not be harvested before it is thoroughly ripe. ”