Welcome to the world of
Canadian Food Barley

The focus of this website is on the use of barley in food rather than the traditional use in livestock feed or in beer making. While food use of barley is not new, it is a tiny proportion of total barley use. This is changing however, as the nutritional value of barley is understood and communicated to consumers. An increasing number of food companies are discovering how to formulate foods to include barley in their products, increasing the nutritional value. And that nutrition boost is real. The Food & Drug Administration in the USA approved a health claim for barley beta glucan (soluble fibre) equivalent to oats... which simply means, barley is good for you!

An interesting historical fact is that barley has been a valued grain in food products, including bread, for many millennia. References can be found from Neolithic times, through Israelite, Egyptian and Greek cultures, and the middle ages in Europe. Barley was the food of Roman gladiators, who were called hordearii or "barley men". They believed that barley bread gave them greater strength and increased stamina compared with other foods. Although wheat also has a similar ancient past it is only in more recent times that wheat has become a predominant food grain with its greater versatility and more refined consumer tastes. The current trend away from fully refined flours to more whole grains, especially grains with high nutritional value such as barley, is at once a step back in history and a leap forward in healthy eating.

The use of “hulless” (sometimes called “naked”) barley in food applications is presented in the website. Although both hulled and hulless barley varieties contain similar levels of total fibre and soluble fibre (beta glucan), the milling of hulless types ensures the production of a truly wholegrain flour. Work is underway with hulled barley, where a very light pearling to remove the coarse outer husk is also expected to yield wholegrain flour. It should be noted, however, that for certain applications refined barley flour is required. Information on the higher soluble fibre hulless types, sometimes referred to as “waxy” barley, is also included.