Where's the local barley?

Martin Posted 2010-11-08 22:17 (#430) Subject: Where's the local barley? Veteran Posts: 275 There was an interesting article in the Guardian Magazine on Saturday, by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, singing the praises of barley, see http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/nov/06/fearnley-whittin... He talks about "pot barley" - the grain with just the outer husk removed, and pearl barley, which also has the bran removed. I've used pearl barley before, in stews, but never heard of pot barley. And it occurred to me that, although we're surrounded by barley fields, we never see local barley for sale. Someone told me that most of the locally grown stuff goes for animal feed. Does anyone have any information? Penny Posted 2010-11-09 10:24 (#431 - in reply to #430) Subject: Re: Where's the local barley? Regular Posts: 63 Good question. I had a quick look on the internet to see what's what. This web link gives a quick resume of barley growing in Scotland. The main uses are animal feed (winter sown) and malting (spring sown). It looks like bere is the rarer 6 row variety and is the one traditionally used for bannocks - and it grows in 90 days over spring summer. Perhaps TBI could experiement with it. http://eatscotland.visitscotland.com/food-drink/scottish-food/cerea...