Barley drink: benefit and harm

We want to tell you about the undeservedly forgotten, but tasty and healthy drinks from barley. We hope that after reading the information provided by us, you will agree that barley drinks should take an honorable place in the menu of each person who is trying to take care of his health.

As with any product, drinks from this cereal have some contraindications. There are very few of them, but still it will not hurt to learn about them.

Further, we will try to introduce you in detail to various options of barley drinks. The benefits and harms of them will not be bypassed by our attention either.

Long oblivion does not mean that the product is bad

For a long period of time there was an opinion that of all agricultural cereal crops barley is the least useful and valuable from the point of view of microbiological analysis. At one time it was even thought that pearl barley, which is made from barley, is a product empty and useless. What can we say about the barley drink? The benefits and harms of this product were not even discussed. Most likely, this is due to the fact that its prime cost is relatively small and in the years of starvation it was barley that became the usual guest on the tables of needy people. He saved the poor both during the war and in the years of crop failure.

Barley is completely unpretentious in growing and growing almost throughout Russia. And what is always at hand, as you know, is usually perceived without much piety. In addition, the direct dependence of the diet on material well-being is too obvious, and the pearl barley is a traditional dish of periods of hard times. But everything flows and everything changes.

In recent years, interest in barley as a food from the category "for a healthy diet" has increased significantly. This trend can not but rejoice. She touched not only barley, but also other gifts of the earth, in particular, quinoa and shirits, who returned to our tables under exotic, overseas names - kinoa and amaranth. And after all, they are for Russian taste - not at all curiosity. By the way, both plants are considered to be weeded, and truck farmers with them ruthlessly fight.

Barley drinks returned to our diet no longer as cheap substitutes for morning coffee and tea and not as decoctions of medicinal plants for the treatment or recovery of an organism weakened by the disease, but as full components of a healthy menu for all family members.

Beneficial features

Barley drinks have unique useful properties. They contribute to improving the work of the gastrointestinal tract, cleansing the digestive system from toxins and toxins. Barley contributes to the excretion of cholesterol, prevents the formation of stones in the kidneys and gall bladder. It is hypoallergenic, so it can be added to the list of dishes for people prone to somatic reactions to various types of food.

If you include any of the barley drinks in your daily diet, then be sure - in old age you will not develop senile dementia. The fact is that one of the unique properties of barley is a large content of silicic acid, which breaks down aluminum oxide, and aluminum alloys are actively used in the production of food dishes and cutlery. During the contact with them, a chemical reaction occurs, as a result of which aluminum in an easily digestible form enters our body and settles in cells. The consequence of accumulation of a harmful metal is Alzheimer's disease.

Contraindications

Barley drinks have practically no contraindications. Two restrictions apply only to the following cases:

• Excessive fascination with cereals can provoke a set of excess weight, so diabetics can eat them only after consulting with the doctor in charge. In a similar situation, barley drink is harmful only if it is drunk very thick and large portions. Caloric content of barley is slightly inferior to any similar cereal.
• Patients with celiac disease also do not show barley. It contains gluten, and in this rare disease the protein gluten of cereals, and barley including, is not split and not digested. This violation of intracellular metabolism provokes serious complications for health.

Barley coffee

Coffee from barley is called a surrogate of real coffee. However, the so-called coffee drink "Barley" only tastes like coffee. Unlike the present, it does not excite the nervous system and is suitable not only for the morning meal, but for drinking throughout the day. Barley drink, the use of which is indisputable, is allowed even for young children.

Ground barley coffee can be bought at the store, but it's easy to cook by yourself. Unrefined grains of barley should be fried in a dry frying pan until light brown and ground on a coffee grinder. Ground grains are brewed in a coffee grinder from the calculation - one spoon for a cup of boiling water. It turns out a brown bitterish drink, a bit like coffee. It is customary to drink it with sugar and milk or cream.

Drinks "Barley Ear" and "Golden Ear"

These two barley drinks are analogues of ground coffee. They are sold in regular supermarkets in grocery stores.

"Barley ear" contains roasted ground grains of barley and chicory root. The way of brewing is indicated on the package. Typically, one large mug requires one tablespoon of powder. Barley coffee is cooked in the same way as usual, in a Turkish or coffee maker.

"Golden Ear" is a mixture of grains of barley and rye. It is prepared in the same way as the "barley ear" or ordinary coffee.

Probably, it's time to stop treating "Barley" and "Golden Ear" as cheap analogues of Brazilian coffee. The drink "Barley ear" only by the way of brewing and color resembles traditional coffee. Its properties and taste do not in the least repeat coffee, and the health benefits far outweigh the latter. Negative adverse manifestations can be associated only with the quality of barley raw materials and with those additives that will be included in the beverage.

Malt beverage

Barley malt drink is a real storehouse of vitamins and useful micronutrients. For him, the grain should be germinated within one or two days. As soon as the white shoots are poured, the grain should be washed and dried. Dry grains grind and pour boiling water. Infuse in a warm place for 30-40 minutes. For two or three tablespoons of ground barley, one and a half to two glasses of boiling water.

Sprouted grains can be harvested for future use and used as needed. They are stored as a whole, and in the ground form.

Kissel

Barley jelly is made both from peeled grains, that is, from pearl barley, and from unmilled ones. The proportions look rather conditional: one liter of water requires at least 50 g of barley. If you like thick jelly, put more.

Barley is flooded with water and put on fire. After boiling, another 20 minutes is cooked. Then he insists and cools. Only the drink made from unpeeled barley is filtered.

Barley jelly for Russia is a traditional dish. Earlier it was brewed thick and ate with oil, seasoned with a pinch of salt. Children were prepared sweet jelly with honey or berries.

Barley jelly - this is not a primitive dish with a couple of options. On the way to prepare the jelly from barley, you can make a whole book, because this drink can be cooked from fresh unmilled grains, and from dry peeled, and from sprouted. It is made of different densities, eaten with sweet and salty, bred with milk, vegetable oil, meat and vegetable broths.

Barley jelly has a fairly neutral taste, so it is combined with a variety of products.

On its basis, mixtures are prepared for feeding infants if the mother has little milk of her own.

Mugitya, damaicha and pericha

Mugitya, damaicha and pericha are the three names of the same barley drink, very popular in Japan, China and Korea. It is similar to the Russian one, which in our stores is sold under the name "Summer".

This is barley coffee from whole, ungrinded, fried and ground grains without any additives in the form of milk powder, sugar or preservatives. It is brewed like ordinary coffee, but it is taken to drink cold, putting a lobule of lemon and ice in the cup. This beverage is also produced as a rapidly soluble concentrated powder.

We hope that the article was interesting to you. In it, we examined the barley drink, the harm and benefit that it brings to the body.