BARLEY (Hordeum distichon)

Supplement: barley grass Potency: 500mg Quantity: 240 tablets Other ingredients: silica, croscarmellose sodium, magnesium stearate. Price: £7.50 Click here for the order page Contraindications: barley contains gluten and is not recommended for use by those with coeliac disease or gluten intolerance.

Further information on Barley

Habitat: Barley is native to western Asia and was first cultivated in the Middle East. It thrives in a wide range of climatic conditions and today is cultivated in over a hundred countries. Most of the leading producers are in Europe, where barley is grown well within the coldness of the Arctic circle to the north and widely in the warmth of the Mediterranean region to the south. Outside of Europe, the leading producers are Canada and Australia.

Characteristics and properties: Barley is one of the most fundamental plants in human nutrition and has been known to man for more than 12,000 years. It is depicted in many ancient wall murals and coins as Egyptians, Sumerians and Babylonians all utilised the grain for sustenance and for brewing beer. Barley became the chief bread plant of the ancient Greeks and Romans and its use for medicinal purposes also dates back to this time. It was one of the remedies most used by Hyppocrate, the father of Western medicine, who strongly advocated it for the treatment of many acute illnesses. The decoction of barley is still known today as "Hyppocrate's tea".

The Romans took barley with them across Europe and the Middle East, establishing it everywhere they went as a staple food, an ingredient for brewing beer and a medicine. One of its most popular medicinal uses was as an anti-inflammatory, a property for which barley still has a sound reputation today, being widely recommended as a treatment for osteoarthritis, gastric ulcers and other inflammatory diseases. Barley is also known as an emollient used in cases of pancreas and biliar ailments and other digestive problems and in infections of the intestinal mucous membrane and urinary tract, and as a febrifugal used especially for fevers in children, who are also given it for minor infections, diarrhea and dry coughs. It is also traditionally renowned as a galactogogue and a promoter of hormonal balance in women, and its benefits to the hormonal system have been reinforced in modern times by research suggesting that it stimulates the release of prolactin and human growth hormone. Barley's reputation as a woman's herb has grown even further in recent years, since it has become increasingly used as an ingredient in breast enhancement formulations.

Another therapeutic use of barley is to lower blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels and to regulate blood sugar levels. Studies suggest that these effects are caused by beta glucan, a type of fibre which barley contains, which is also claimed to be protective against the risk of bowel cancer. Barley also contains astounding amounts of proteins, vitamins and minerals, incuding potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, phosphorus, manganese, zinc, beta carotene, B1, B2, B6, C, folic acid, and pantothenic acid, making it one of the most nourishing foodstuffs known to man. It also contains high levels of chlorophyll, a substance said to inhibit cancer, and several antioxidants, thought to help prevent many degenerative diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, stroke and premature ageing.

Made into a poultice and applied externally, barley has demulcent properties which make it helpful in soothing and reducing inflammation in sores and swellings. A hot poultice eases stiff and painful joints and draws the poison from boils, abscesses, stings, bites and infected cuts. A cold poultice relieves swellings and helps with weeping eczema and other itchy skin conditions.

Culinary uses: Barley was one of the earliest cereals to be cultivated and was important in ancient times for making bread and beer. Today it's no longer used much in bread making, wheat having become the world's first choice for flour, but it remains the main raw material for beer and is also the key ingredient in whisky. It has also given it's own name to an alcoholic drink: barley wine. Despite it's name, barleywine is a strong beer rather than a wine, but it's called wine because it's so much stronger than other beers, making its alcohol content closer to wine than beer.

Barley breads are still found today, such as in Crete where shepherds bake a bread called Paximathia, in Sardinia where there is a shepherd's bread called Carasau, in Estonia where there is a traditional bread called Karask, and on the Isle of Man where a bread called Bonnag is a staple of Manx traditional fare. Barley porridge is another widespread tradition, although today it's only common in Tibet, where it's known as Tsampa. Barley has always been particularly popular in Scotland, where it has long been used for griddlecakes and for barley pudding, and in Wales which has a traditional barley cake and barley muffins.

Barley is a common ingredient in soups and stews and there are probably few countries in the world today that do not have a local recipe for barley soup. The most well known today are Scotch Barley Broth and New Brunswick Barley Soup. The world's best known barley stew is Sarpagyong Porkolt from Hungary, but there are a great many others. Barley is also an ingredient in muesli and other breakfast cereal mixes, so it's entirely possible to consume barley at every meal of the day.

History and curiosities: Barley was first gathered in prehistoric times by wandering nomads who traded it with their neighbours. It began to be cultivated about 7,000 years ago and was important enough in the Sumerian and Babylonian cultures to be used as a form of money. One of the first writings about the cultivation of barley was by the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung around 2,800 BC, when he referred to it as one of China's five sacred plants.

Since barley was the major grain of the Egyptians as well as the Hebrews, being the basis of their bread and beer, it's not surprising to find it mentioned in the bible on numerous occasions. A good example is in Exodus I of the Old Testament, describing the ten plagues that befell the Egyptians, which tells of a pounding rain of hailstones "by which the barley was smitten". Barley soon became important in ancient Greece and Rome. In the Greek town Eleusis, it is known that winners of games were awarded sacks of barley as prizes, whilst in Rome the gladiators there were put on a special diet of barley for strength and stamina and were often called "hordearii" meaning barley men.

During the Anglo-Saxon era in England, from about the fifth or sixth century through to the eleventh century, barley's importance was such that it became used as a unit of measurement. The word barleycorn was used to refer to the length of one grain of barley and this was the standard unit. Three grains of barley laid end to end, or three barleycorns, was held to make an "ynce", which later became an inch. Twelve of the ynces was held to make a foot and so the British system of measurement was born.

Today the barley plant has lost much of it's once exalted status, no longer being the basis of our daily bread, let alone a form of currency or a unit of measurement. However, it's nutritional and therapeutic properties continue to be of interest and are being subject to much modern research and clinical study, with the result that barley's use as a medicinal herb and it's popularity as a dietary supplement are very much on the increase.