It is considered the oldest grain crop known to mankind - references to its cultivation date back to historical times ancient world. For example, traces of this cereal were found in Egyptian burials dating back to five thousand years BC. Barley was familiar to the ancient Ethiopians, who used it not only as a source of food, but also as a raw material for intoxicating drinks. This cereal was also grown in the Babylonian lands, in India, Asia, and China; it was the most important crop of Ancient Rome. There is evidence that in the territory where Switzerland is now located, barley was known back in the Stone Age.
The current area sown with barley ranks fourth in the world, second only to wheat, corn and rice. Very popular in agriculture This cereal owes its short growing season, thanks to which it has time to ripen in fairly cold areas. Therefore, you can find barley crops even high in the mountains and far away in the vast northern regions. This culture is resistant to frost, withstands droughts and is undemanding to the composition of the soil.
Barley is used in a wide variety of industries. The bulk of the collected grain is converted into cereal (for example, ordinary pearl barley is made from barley). Barley flour serves as an additive when baking many types of bread. Bread is not baked entirely from barley flour - it crumbles too much and goes stale too quickly. Barley flour is also used to produce a coffee substitute that does not contain caffeine.
A significant amount of grain is used to produce raw materials for breweries - while grain is sprouted to produce malt. Also, barley grain serves as the starting material for the production of edible grain alcohol (in the production of such well-known alcoholic drinks, like Scotch whiskey and English gin).
In addition to application in Food Industry Barley serves as the basis for feed production. Unhulled barley grain is added to feed for pigs and horses, as it is nutritionally superior even to oats. Barley straw is also used as food for livestock. Sometimes, to obtain green fodder, barley is specially sown.
How to select and store barley products
When choosing barley products in the store, it makes sense to pay attention to barley groats. Indeed, in its production, unlike pearl barley, grinding and polishing technologies are not used, which has a positive effect on the preservation of nutrients and fiber. If you choose cereal in transparent packaging when purchasing, you will be able to evaluate the quality of processing and the absence of impurities. The presence of droplets of moisture inside a bag of pearl barley or barley is extremely undesirable; pathogenic microorganisms quickly develop on wet cereals (such a product can even cause poisoning).
Pearl barley porridge, being packaged in polyethylene, does not last long and becomes rancid. You should prefer cardboard containers, in which the product will maintain quality throughout its entire shelf life, which ranges from six to twelve months. The freshness of pearl barley can also be determined by the presence of smell: old pearl barley either does not have it at all, or it is musty.
Barley groats, depending on the degree of grinding, are divided into numbers from one to three; stores usually sell a mixture of all numbers. This cereal retains its beneficial properties throughout its shelf life (up to fifteen months). For long-term storage, it is better to pour it into a tightly closed container and keep it in a dark, dry place. Periodically, the cereal is sorted, checking to see if there are any bugs in it.
Calorie content of barley
The caloric value of barley as food grain is 288 kilocalories. After processing and transformation into barley groats, the calorie content increases to 313 kcal. Downgrade energy value You can eat barley if you cook it together with other products. For example, barley porridge with potatoes “gives out” only 150 kcal, and cabbage soup with it is reduced in calorie content to 48 kcal.
Pearl barley is somewhat more nutritious - its calorie content is 320 kcal. When cooked in water, pearl barley porridge retains only 109 kcal, which is already a sufficient indicator for dietary food, while barley soup contains only 43 kcal per hundred grams. Excessive use of dairy products and oil in barley porridges can, of course, significantly increase the calorie content of the final dishes and reduce their dietary properties.
Nutritional value per 100 grams:
Beneficial properties of barley groats
Composition and presence of nutrients
Barley is a real storehouse of vitamins, macro and microelements. It contains a high fiber content. And also, it contains vitamins B, PP, E, H, choline, phosphorus, chlorine, sulfur, potassium, sodium, calcium, potassium. The cereal contains iron, iodine and zinc, copper, selenium and molybdenum, silicon and manganese, chromium and fluorine, aluminum, titanium and zirconium.
Useful and healing properties
The inclusion of barley porridges and soups in the diet is recommended for those who are overweight. In this case, the fiber contained in it becomes a particularly useful element, which serves as an intestinal irritant and is practically not absorbed, increasing peristalsis.
For acute inflammatory bowel diseases, a mucous decoction of barley or barley groats (especially coarse grinding) is extremely useful. The positive effect of the barley diet is noticeable in eczema, psoriasis, and pyoderma.
A decoction of barley flour will help with colds. For skin diseases, a bath with grain decoction is used. Barley skin is known for its diuretic effect.
During fevers, barley water has a cooling and moisturizing effect. It is used both in pure form, and with fennel and parsley.
Hot barley ointment will help get rid of freckles. Gout will go away if you prepare a medicinal bandage of barley, vinegar and quince. Barley malt improves metabolism, helps get rid of boils and acne.
Malt extract is useful for diabetes.
Barley is also used in cosmetology in the production of shampoos, balms, and creams.
Use in cooking
In addition to preparing the porridge itself from barley or pearl barley, of which there are a great many recipes and variations, barley cereals are used in cooking soups, fish soup, and preparing side dishes. There are some features that should be taken into account when using barley cereals.
Common barley Hordeum vulgare L. (H. sativum Pers.)
Botanical description
This annual plant has a straight stem, whose height reaches 60-80 cm. The leaves are attached to the knees of the stem, linear. The inflorescence is a spike complex type with the presence of lanceolate spikelets, which are common axis assembled in 2-3 stages. Each spikelet contains one flower with a perianth. The grain is the fruit of the plant. It fuses with the upper hymen. Barley blooms in May-June and ripens in August-September.
Application of the plant
The grains are used for the preparation of pearl barley and barley, coffee surrogate, and as an additive for baking. rye bread. In addition, barley is used to make beer and as concentrated animal feed.
For a long time this plant has been successfully used in folk medicine. A decoction of cereals is prescribed for colitis, gastritis and dyspepsia. Malt extract is useful for feeding infants and during the treatment of bronchitis.
Habitat
Barley is one of the most common grain crops. The peoples of Transcaucasia and the western spurs of the Himalayas have used this plant since prehistoric times. 3100 BC e. the use of barley has been documented in ancient Babylon.
In China and East Asia, this plant is considered one of the most ancient. IN Ancient Rome this culture was one of the most popular. Barley is also mentioned in the Tibetan medical reference book “Zhud-shi”.
Nowadays, barley sown areas in the world occupy the fourth place among existing cereals. This plant is cultivated in the USA, Canada, Lithuania, China, Belarus, and in some countries Western Europe, in Russia, Asia Minor, Hindustan.
It is not found in the wild nowadays. Cultivated as a food and fodder plant. In Tibet it is considered the main food of the local population.
Beneficial properties of barley
Products from the seeds of this plant have anti-inflammatory and some diuretic, emollient and enveloping effects. In lactating women, preparations from seeds increase the amount of milk.
Chemical composition
Barley grains contain protein substances, starch, fats, vitamins B, E, P groups. Malt (flour from sprouted grains), grains, and barley decoction have medicinal properties.
Medicinal properties
To increase the amount of milk in nursing women, use a decoction of barley. In addition, the decoction is prescribed for liver diseases.
Barley has a diuretic, blood purifying, soothing, enveloping and softening effect.
Also, barley preparations have a general strengthening and expectorant effect on the human body.
To stop the growth of tumors initial stage use malt decoction. The decoction also allows you to adjust the metabolism in the body. For this reason, it is prescribed to those who are prone to obesity.
Contraindications
It should be remembered that barley reduces libido and can lead to increased gas production (this negative effect can be eliminated with sugar).
Collection and preparation
Raw materials are collected in August. Barley is harvested in July-August as it ripens. The grain is threshed and dried in the shade.
To treat inflammation of the stomach and intestines, a decoction of pearl barley and barley is prescribed. This remedy is also useful for easing cough.
- To prepare a decoction, take 20 g of cereal and pour 1 tbsp. hot water. Leave for 4-5 hours, then boil for 10-15 minutes over low heat, then cool and strain through several layers of gauze. Take 1 tbsp before meals. spoon.
Barley malt is prescribed for pyelonephritis and for the treatment of inflammation Bladder.
- Barley malt along with medicinal yeast is indicated for the treatment of inflammation of the intestines and stomach. You need to take 250 grams of malt, then add 140 grams of yeast and 100 grams of magnesium carbonate with sugar. The total weight should reach 1 kg. Take 3 times a day, 3-4 g.
To prepare barley malt, the seeds need to be sprouted, dried, crushed to obtain a powder, then pour 1 liter. boiling water 2-3 tbsp. l., and then insist. The product cannot be stored for a long time.
- To treat diathesis, take 30 g of oak bark, add 500 grams of barley grains, grind the mixture, boil for half an hour over low heat in 10 liters of water, leave for an hour, strain. It is recommended to take a bath with a decoction for severe itching.
Common barley (Hordeum vulgare) is one of the most ancient cereal crops. According to historical data, this grain crop was widely used as early as 3100 BC. Used a plant with medicinal purposes Chinese, Greeks and Romans. Plant grains were discovered during archaeological excavations in the Severyansky and Polyansky burial grounds. Barley has been used to treat various pathologies.
Today the plant is used in alternative medicine, cosmetology and cooking. It is known about the diuretic, expectorant, anti-inflammatory and restorative effects of barley. The plant, or rather preparations made from it, is also valued in veterinary medicine. Cereal medicines are used to treat vomiting and constipation in pets. The grain crop is also used in cosmetology. Barley is included in various masks for facial skin care, as well as creams and lotions.
Description: barley is an annual herbaceous plant, belonging to the Barley genus and the Cereal family, reaching a height of fifty or more centimeters. The stems are equipped with well-developed nodes and hollow internodes, flat alternate leaves. Flowering occurs at the beginning summer period, and the fruits - grains - ripen towards the end of the summer period.
Wild barley
This is a plant grown for food and cultural purposes. This is cultivated cereal crop in Ukraine, Russia, USA, Asia, Belarus, Canada. In the wild, as in the photo, it is practically never found. Single stems can grow on embankments, along roads or in crops.
Several recommendations regarding the collection and preparation of medicinal raw materials. Barley fruits are used to make products. They are also the raw material for the production of cereals and flour. The grains are collected as they ripen. Then they are threshed, dried outside, in the shade or indoors with sufficient ventilation. The harvested raw materials are filled into bags and stored in a dry place.
Composition and beneficial properties
It is not for nothing that the plant is widely used in various fields: medicine, cooking, cosmetology, veterinary medicine. Barley contains a considerable amount of nutrients and beneficial substances:
- ash;
- carbohydrates;
- fats;
- proteins;
- fiber;
- vitamins: B, E, A, K, D;
- enzymes;
- fatty oils;
- ascorbic acid;
- micro- and macroelements: iron, copper, zinc, manganese, calcium, bromine, selenium;
- starch;
- mineral salts;
- amino acids.
Medicines from the plant in question have: choleretic, wound-healing, tonic, antispasmodic, anti-inflammatory, tonic, immunostimulating, enveloping, sedative effects.
Seed barley
Compositions from barley grains contribute to:
- removing harmful cholesterol from the body;
- normalization of metabolic processes;
- removing toxins and toxic substances from the body;
- eliminating spasms;
- normalization of the functioning of the central nervous system;
- therapy of diabetes, constipation, hemorrhoids, furunculosis, cough, colds, cystitis, nephritis, scrofula, diarrhea, pathologies of the upper respiratory tract and inflammation of the oral cavity.
Barley extract in cosmetology
The plant is very beneficial for skin and hair. The extract has a moisturizing, anti-inflammatory and rejuvenating effect and helps nourish the dermis with essential nutrients.
Cosmetics based on barley extract are suitable for all skin types. They will help with hydration, regeneration, etc. The extract is also used in dermatology.
Baths with this drug will help minimize inflammatory processes, eliminate rashes, furunculosis, and eczema. The extract of the plant in question is an important component various means skin and hair care: masks, gels, creams, lotions.
Sources of the extract are grains and sprouts of the plant. To obtain the product, environmentally friendly raw materials are used, which undergo several stages of processing: grinding, extraction, defertilization, moisture removal, drying. To extract the extract, low-temperature technology is used, which allows you to preserve all useful material plants.
Liquid extract is a solution that has a characteristic aroma and color (it is what gives cosmetic compositions a light green or light green color). You can find barley sprout extract in the form of a fine powder. This product has a rich green color.
Soldier's barley porridge
Recipes for effective drugs
Barley is a very useful and nutritious plant. However, formulations based on it can be used with the knowledge of a doctor. It is not recommended to replace barley medications with medications prescribed by a specialist. Be vigilant and remember that informal medicine can only be used as an adjuvant therapy.
1. Preparation of a remedy that improves appetite. Mix barley malt - 100 grams with magnesium carbonate - 50 grams and medicinal yeast - 70 grams. Combine the resulting mass with granulated sugar - 250 g. Mix the composition thoroughly and consume a spoonful of the drug every day.
2.: use of tincture. Pour the crushed spikelets of the plant in the amount of 30 grams of vodka - one glass. Place the tightly closed container in a cool place for a week. Use a filtered mouth rinse twice a day.
3. Preparation of an anthelmintic composition. Mix ground barley seeds with crushed pumpkin seeds in equal proportions. Pour thirty grams of the composition with high-quality vodka - 200 ml. Leave the product in a warm place for a week. Take 50 ml of filtered medicine twice a day before meals: in the morning and in the evening. Children should be given medicine only in the morning.
4. Infusion for the treatment of bladder pathologies. Steam twenty grams of barley flour in a liter of boiled water. The composition must be infused for three hours, preferably in a thermos. Drink 100 ml of strained infusion four times a day. If you want, you can add a little sugar.
5. Scrofula, hemorrhoids: treatment with jelly. Brew medium-thick malt jelly and consume 100 g of it three times a day.
6. Diarrhea, gastrointestinal pathologies: mucus therapy. Pour 15 grams of boiling water over the barley grains - half a glass. Place the container in a warm place for five hours. Then place the container on the stove and simmer the composition over low heat for a quarter of an hour. Cool and take a spoon three times a day.
7. Cough: use of healing infusion. Mix barley grains with oat and rye grains in equal proportions. Grind the raw material to a powdery consistency, and then combine with chicory and almonds. Brew the mixture with boiled water. Take two spoons of the composition three times a day.
Contraindications
Despite the usefulness of the plant, there are still contraindications to the use of drugs based on it. It is not recommended to take barley formulations if you have individual intolerance, stomach and duodenal ulcers, or cholecystitis.
In addition, do not forget that taking barley decoction with honey can cause a decrease in libido.
Barley – annual plant, belonging to the cereal family. Has a wide variety of species. However, most of the cultivated barley is common barley; its other species are rarely planted or grow as wild. The grass has a straight, knotty stem up to half a meter high. The grain is covered with a film; when purified, it is light with yellowish or brownish tints. However, Soviet scientists also developed several varieties of crops with naked seeds.
Barley: origin story
Barley is the oldest cereal cultivated plant, grown by humans. Its cultivation lasts more than 10 thousand years and took place in the Middle East. However, there is evidence that the ancient Palestinians ate it 17 thousand years ago. Today, in the wild, it occupies large areas from North Africa to Tibet.
The oldest representatives of cultivated cereals were discovered in Syria, which date back to the pre-ceramic period. It was found in the tombs of Egypt (Stone and Bronze Ages). Archaeological research proves the wide spread of barley in ancient times, and does not exclude its independent cultivation by peoples in different territories. In the Middle Ages, European peasants ate rye and barley bread, since wheat bread was included in the diet of only the privileged classes. It was only by the 19th century that barley began to be replaced by potatoes. Its penetration into Rus' occurred from Asia, Siberia and the Caucasus.
Barley is a cold-resistant cereal that grows well in northern and highland regions. As a result, it was and is now the most important food product for residents of these territories, since it is difficult or impossible to cultivate other grain crops there. It is widely used not only as a grain crop, but also as feed for livestock and poultry.
Biological composition of barley
Barley grains contain proteins (13%), fats (3.5%), carbohydrates (75%), starch (60%), hemicellulose (6.5%), pectins (2%). They are rich in amino acids (essential and non-essential). Of the former, methionine, valine, lysine, isoleucine, leucine, tryptophan, threonine, and phenylalanine are present. Of the second - arginine, alanine, histidine, cystine, glycine, serine, proline, tyrosine, aminosuccinic and glutamic acids.
The vitamin series consists of beta-carotene, provitamin A, B1, B2, P, B6, B15, E, choline and some others. The elemental base is zinc, manganese, silicon, copper, potassium, fluorine, calcium. At the same time, it contains tin, zirconium, selenium, nickel, molybdenum, chromium and other elements. Barley flour contains a lot of beta-glucan polysaccharide, which lowers cholesterol.
The antifungal antibiotic hordecin, effective for skin diseases, was isolated from barley.
Application of barley in food production
Barley is the raw material for the production of barley and pearl barley (pictured below), widely used in the national nutritional diet. Moreover, pearl barley is whole grains that have been cleaned and polished (the latter is not always done). The name of this grain, similar in color and shape to freshwater pearls, comes from the old word perl (pearl). During the production of barley groats (yachki), grains undergo film release and crushing operations. No grinding is used here, which preserves the fiber, the presence of which is superior to pearl barley.
A coffee surrogate is also prepared from barley. The culture is the raw material basis for the brewing industry and an excellent concentrated livestock feed, since it is rich complete protein and starch. In our country, 70% of the total barley harvest is used to feed animals. By the way, beer made from this grain was the oldest human drink in the Neolithic era, and somewhat later they began to use it to make mutual payments, i.e., it was introduced into the rank of money.
IN rural areas They know very well the nutritional and healing effectiveness of feeding pigs (and other animals) with unrefined grains. Barley straw is not much inferior to them in terms of the indicated properties, and its consumption by livestock is lower only than oat straw, surpassing rye and wheat, which is explained by the value of its biologically active components.
Barley in ancient medicine
Ancient medicine used cereal grains and flour, as well as barley water. Avicenna wrote that culture has a cleansing effect on the body. Breast diseases were treated with barley water. When fennel seeds are added to it, the amount of milk in women increases. It cools and moisturizes well during various fevers (drink it with fennel and parsley during cold ones, and without any additives during hot ones). Grain films have long been considered diuretic. Freckles were removed with hot barley ointment. Bandages made of barley, quince and vinegar were often used, which prevent excess salt from reaching the joints during gout. According to Tibetan medicine, the culture is beneficial for inflammation of the nose and throat (E. Bazaron, 1984).
The use of barley in folk medicine
A decoction of barley groats stimulates lactation in women, treats liver diseases, has emollient, enveloping, diuretic, blood purifying, expectorant effects, soothing the irritated intestinal lining. It is a wonderful tonic and general strengthening agent for diseases of the stomach, intestines, and chest, and quickly restores the body after illnesses. In the old days, these properties of the culture were highly valued, so they used it to feed weakened infants, mixing barley broth with milk, which made it more nutritious.
Soups and porridges made from barley are prescribed to people who are obese. Their use is due to the high concentration of fiber, which, if not absorbed, irritates the intestinal walls, stimulating its peristalsis. They are especially necessary in old age, when (due to weakened peristalsis) they suffer from constipation. Mucous decoctions of the product are included in the diet for inflammation in the intestines and stomach.
What are the benefits of barley malt?
The healthfulness of barley malt is great. Its aqueous infusion has a softening, enveloping and anti-inflammatory effect, and the aqueous extract (decoction) improves the digestibility of cow's milk, stops tumor development in the initial stage, and normalizes the body's metabolism. It is no coincidence that the decoction is used against obesity.
Mastitis, “hardened” tumors, and external skin inflammations are treated with poultices made from a malt and flour mixture. A drink made from it effectively fights cough, hemorrhoids, scrofula, urolithiasis and other urological diseases.
Malt perfectly performs cosmetic functions, restoring rough, cracked and chapped skin by taking malt baths with the further use of nourishing creams and applying masks. These baths weaken and stop skin diseases.
To make malt from barley, its grains are sprouted, then dried and ground to a powder. Then pour into 30 g of powder hot water(1 l), leave for half an hour. The prepared infusion retains healing properties no more than a day, and in the refrigerator. If barley is sprouted together with peas, china and clover, you will get top-class malt. Malt extract banishes diabetes mellitus (L. Sklyarevsky, 1973).
Methods of application
Stomach, intestinal, kidney diseases, headache, blurred vision
- Boil the barley grains over low heat until softened (pour in a lot of water). Strain. Lemon or orange juice is poured into the broth. They drink like water. During this treatment, you should not eat egg whites (the yolk is not forbidden).
- A malt infusion is prepared from 40 g of flour and a liter of boiling water, sweetened with sugar (syrup), and drunk up to 6 times daily, half a glass.
Barley for tuberculosis
Barley grains are infused for up to half a day in water at a ratio of 1:4 (infusion can be replaced by prolonged boiling). Strain it off. Drink 0.4 liters of barley water daily. It is strictly forbidden to add honey or vinegar to it!
Barley from anemia and radiation exposure
200 ml of water is poured into 20 g of barley malt, left for an hour in a warm place, boiled for 10 minutes, filtered. Take 100 ml three times a day before meals.
Barley for skin diseases
Place barley malt (1 kg) wrapped in cheesecloth in a saucepan, pour in boiling water (3 l), leave for half an hour, pour into a bath, dilute with 36-degree water. Used against skin diseases. For children, the amount of malt is halved.
Barley for diarrhea and colitis
Pour into the grains (50 g) boiled water(0.5 l), infuse for a quarter of a day, boil for a quarter of an hour, infuse again for half an hour, filter. Dosage: 70 ml daily (four times a day).
Barley for cough, sore throat, diabetes, hemorrhoids
The grains are sprouted. The sprouts are isolated, dried and crushed. 30 g of them are poured into a liter of boiling water, left for 4 hours. Daily dose of 100 ml – 5 times.
The use of barley for diathesis
Mix and grind barley grains (500 g) and oak bark (30 g), pour in water (10 l), boil for half an hour over low heat, leave for an hour, strain. Take a bath with a decoction against itching.
Barley cures abscess
The sharp end of the grain is heated and the abscess is cauterized with it.
Strengthening baby food recipe
Pour 200 ml of boiling water into 30 g of barley cereal (do not use pearl barley!), cook for a third of an hour, strain. The decoction is added to whole cow's milk for feeding infants. So, the proportion of milk and broth for a two-month-old baby is 1:3. With age, the proportion of the decoction decreases. The recipe is used until the child reaches 9 years of age.
Strengthening the body
Infuse 30 g of malt flour in a liter of boiling water for 4 hours and strain. Take daily (three times 100 g) with sugar (to taste) before meals.
Conclusion
It must be said that, no matter which of these recipes is chosen, treatment must be carried out regularly, patiently and persistently. You should not expect a dramatic effect on the first day. If you cannot get the desired result after several procedures, it is better to continue them, but not interrupt them. There is no reason to rush from one recipe to another and panic. You should stock up on patience, perseverance and set yourself up for a speedy healing.