My mother was a wise woman. I later found out from an Australian naturopath that barley is known to be a kidney cleanser, and she happily downed glasses of it at a meal we had in a coffee-shop here.
Barley is good for your intestinal health too. Try to eat the barley grains you find in your drink or sweet broth with fu chook (beancurd skin) and ginkgo nuts.
It's high in fibre which feeds the friendly bacteria in the colon and helps speed up the transit of fecal matter in it. In this way it helps prevent haemorrhoids and colon cancer.
The propionic acid and beta glucan from barley's insoluble fibre also help lower cholesterol and prevent the formation of gallstones.
Eating barley regularly is a preventive step against heart disease as, besides the fibre content, it is also high in niacin, a B vitamin good for lowering cholesterol.
Diabetics should eat more barley as the fibre will prevent blood sugar levels from rising too high. It also provides relief from constipation or diarrhoea for those suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
Barley is rich in selenium which prevents cancer and relieves symptoms of asthma and arthritis. It is a good source of manganese, copper and phosphorous.
Malt sugar comes from sprouted barley which, when fermented, is an ingredient in beer and other alcoholic beverages.
Barley, whose Latin name is " hordeum vulgare" , has been cultivated for more than 10,000 years.
Since ancient times, barley has been used for healing purposes and has been known to the Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. Athletes in Greece and Rome in those days were known to eat barley bread to give them strength.
Besides the usual things we do with barley, I enjoy having it in a western soup. The larger pearl barley is used and I love the sticky bite of it.
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