Cultivated for millennia, barley is native to the Near East. This cereal is among the most widely cultivated in the world.
Barley is considered an ancient grain: it has undergone minimal alterations due to varietal selection over millennia and is largely the same as that consumed by our distant ancestors.
The barley selected by Farinart comes from qualified sources, cultivated with care to ensure exceptional purity and optimal nutritional benefits.
Barley can be dehulled or pearled, which can change the final flavor and nutritional profile of a product. Dehulled barley is a minimally processed product, with the bran and germ intact. Pearled barley is stripped of the hull and bran layer. Barley flour is typically produced from dehulled barley.
This product is available raw, roasted, sprouted or malted, and offered whole, in flakes, cracked and ground coarsely or into flour. It can come from conventional or organic farming. Our barley is GMO-free.
Barley has a slightly sweet, honey-like flavor, with nutty, malty, and earthy notes. Whether barley is dehulled or pearled, can change its final flavor, pearl barley being blander while hulled barley is nuttier.
Barley does contain gluten, but not as much as wheat. Despite this gluten content, breads made with barley tend to be dense and of poor volume. Barley flour is therefore used for flatbreads. When ground into flour, because of its coarse texture it can only partially substitute for wheat flour in baking, particularly in cakes, cookies, pancakes, muffins or artisan breads.
Malted, barley is also used as a component of composite flours used in bread making. Diastatic malted barley flour, made from barley malt, is used as an enzyme supplement to bread flours with low natural enzyme activity to improve the water absorption and stability of the dough and the crumb structure. Malted barley flour can replace up to 15% of wheat flour and improve the rheology of biscuits, cakes and breads. Non-diastatic malted barley flour, whose enzymes have been inactivated, is used to impart or enhance the flavors of breads, crackers and biscuits, while contributing positively to their nutritional profile.
Barley is a cereal rich in complex carbohydrates, as well as in soluble and insoluble fibers. This cereal contains significant amounts of protein, vitamins, minerals, phenolic acids and flavanols. Barley is particularly known for being rich in beta-glucans, a type of fiber that lowers blood cholesterol levels, improves lipid metabolism and reduces the glycemic index.
Barley is considered rich in FODMAPs (Fermentable by colonic bacteria Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides and Polyols).
