New naked barley from OSU

[whm1974]

So the Oregon State University has breed a new variety of naked(hull-less) purple barley that does not need to be pearled since the hull is removed during harvesting making this a true whole grain. It is suitable for food, feed, and brew.
https://www.soils.org/discover-soils/story/new-buck-naked-barley-food-feed-brew

I've been looking at replacing pearled barley with the naked varieties due to pearled barley not being whole grain. So I found the above article. Unfortunately the local stores only sell pearled, so if I want hull-less I will have to order a 25lb bag of it to be worthwhile.

I do not like white breads at and my preference is dark rye, pumpernickel, and multi-grain breads. Although I will settle for a decent whole wheat loaf if I can't get the others.

Who else is also picky about bread as well?

 

[mindless1]

Yes I highly prefer anything other than plain white bread, but don't mind the denser, coarser varieties like Italian.

Hull-less barley has been around for a while. Bob's Red Mill is sold on Amazon (Well it was but apparently Amazon themselves are currently out of stock.)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B7DZVZI

I like pearled barley but Bob's Hull-less is terrible. It takes forever to cook and ends up like a cross between a chewy water balloon and overcooked corn, except low taste. Way too much fiber and your digestive system will not break down any unchewed kernels. It was hilarious how many kernels I had apparently not chewed, that came out the other end a day after forcing myself to eat a bowl full.

If I had a cow then I'd have a way to get rid of the rest that I have, IF the cow would eat it. I once put some on my patio and even the birds wouldn't eat it, lol.

 

[whm1974]

Did you add enough water and some salt? I wonder if a slow cooker would be best for naked barley?

 

[mindless1]

Yes, there was plenty of water, and after the terrible first cook I made a 2nd batch and then cooked it longer and longer, sampling every 10 minutes. It didn't matter, got larger and more water filled but was never what I'd consider edible.

No I didn't salt the water. I never salt water, as that just adds hidden sodium you can't taste. It has never been a problem when I cook pearled barley or any (other) whole grains. I did butter the bowl that I ate.

It's the worst texture of any grain I've ever eaten.

 

[sandorski]

100 years ago we might all see it as revolutionary. Today we all confused why you talking about some tree seed.....

 

[whm1974]

100 years ago we might all see it as revolutionary. Today we all confused why you talking about some tree seed.....

Barley and other grains are grasses not tree seeds.

 

[Carson Dyle]

If this development was just published in the Journal of Plant Registration, I'd guess the chances are you won't be able to buy it for a number of years.

 

[sandorski]

Barley and other grains are grasses not tree seeds.

;colbert;

 

[whm1974]

If this development was just published in the Journal of Plant Registration, I'd guess the chances are you won't be able to buy it for a number of years.

Not this variety anyway. Some other naked barley then.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Not this variety anyway. Some other naked barley then.

What other? They just developed it. That's kind of the point of the article you linked. It's probably patented and will cost 10 times what pearled barley costs when it first hits the market. They say they hooked up with a brewer to make a beer from it. Probably gave them a few pounds from one of their first harvests.

I saw a sale in the local supermarket on some apple variety that I'd never heard of before. Looked it up and found out that it was developed in the late 90s. That could be the sort of time frame that you can expect before it becomes widespread.

 

[mindless1]

What other? They just developed it. That's kind of the point of the article you linked. It's probably patented and will cost 10 times what pearled barley costs when it first hits the market.

It is doubtful that nobody else has crossed those two barleys. They probably couldn't enforce a patent if they had one, probably didn't develop anything new, just popularized it to some extent. This looks like merely cross breeding two strains of barley, not genetically engineering something new.

I don't see any reason why it couldn't hit the market immediately. I mean even you, in your own back yard could cross these and sell it to anyone who would buy.

As far as cost vs value, that's a whole different game of marketing vs the gullibility of consumers. If it really is adapted to the climate then it should have similar enough yields and similar enough price until you get greedy leaches involved to act as middlemen that take an additional cut out of the normal farming/food industry. That will happen and that will keep it from being a staple food.

 

[Carson Dyle]

It could hit the market immediately only if someone plants it. You have to convince farmers that there's a reason to grow it before it will have a chance. We have no real idea of yields or profitability relative to standard varieties.

The market for barley as flour is most likely small in comparison to the market for barley in the production of beer. As the article points out, there's no advantage to hulless barley, and it's actually a disadvantage in the malting and brewing process, as it requires different processing techniques.

I had a discussion recently with a California rice grower. His family grows medium grain rice in the central valley near Sacramento. He says that he himself prefers eating only long grain rice. I agreed, as that's what I typically buy, and I pay a premium for it. I asked why they don't grow long grain when it costs more in stores. He mentioned things like yield per acre, market (most of their rice is exported to Asia), growing time, the cost associate with planting, fertilizing and irrigation. A lot more things than would immediately come to mind if you're not a farmer.

 

[whm1974]

What other? They just developed it. That's kind of the point of the article you linked. It's probably patented and will cost 10 times what pearled barley costs when it first hits the market. They say they hooked up with a brewer to make a beer from it. Probably gave them a few pounds from one of their first harvests.

I saw a sale in the local supermarket on some apple variety that I'd never heard of before. Looked it up and found out that it was developed in the late 90s. That could be the sort of time frame that you can expect before it becomes widespread.

There are other varieties of naked barley, that is what I meant.

 

[Muse]

Who else is also picky about bread as well?

I make my own. Have for decades. Have had bread machines in recent years, which makes it a ton easier. I've stuck with this recipe (my own creation, so to speak) for a few years. It's a sort of whole wheat rye. The measurements may seem peculiarly specific. It's because I use a kitchen scale, and it's as easy to be specific as non-specific. The difference isn't important. Most of the ingredients are organic:

oil (extra virgin olive is what I always use) 0.64 oz
water 15.5oz (I heat it to luke warm in the microwave)
rye flour 5.35oz
whole wheat flour 6oz
ground flax seed 1.6oz
salt 0.26oz
sugar 0.64oz
non fat dry milk powder 0.71oz
caraway seeds 0.5oz
gluten powder 0.59oz
molasses 1.18 tablespoon (~0.6oz)
white bread flour 8.45oz
active dry yeast ~0.09oz

 

[whm1974]

I make my own. Have for decades. Have had bread machines in recent years, which makes it a ton easier. I've stuck with this recipe (my own creation, so to speak) for a few years. It's a sort of whole wheat rye. The measurements may seem peculiarly specific. It's because I use a kitchen scale, and it's as easy to be specific as non-specific. The difference isn't important. Most of the ingredients are organic:

oil (extra virgin olive is what I always use) 0.64 oz
water 15.5oz (I heat it to luke warm in the microwave)
rye flour 5.35oz
whole wheat flour 6oz
ground flax seed 1.6oz
salt 0.26oz
sugar 0.64oz
non fat dry milk powder 0.71oz
caraway seeds 0.5oz
gluten powder 0.59oz
molasses 1.18 tablespoon (~0.6oz)
white bread flour 8.45oz
active dry yeast ~0.09oz

Have you tried using Barley flour for multi-grain bread? I'm wondering how bread made with barley and potato flour and yeast would come out?

 

[Muse]

Have you tried using Barley flour for multi-grain bread? I'm wondering how bread made with barley and potato flour and yeast would come out?

I'm sure you could get it to come out just fine, maybe with some tweaking. It's fun to experiment making bread, and really easy to do with a bread machine. And the result is pretty much always edible. A few iterations are sometimes in order to get it to come out how you like... e.g. rising the right amount.

 

[whm1974]

I'm sure you could get it to come out just fine, maybe with some tweaking. It's fun to experiment making bread, and really easy to do with a bread machine. And the result is pretty much always edible. A few iterations are sometimes in order to get it to come out how you like... e.g. rising the right amount.

Living in a SRO apartment, I don't really have the space for a bread machine, but maybe I could make barley pancakes? That seems easy enough.

 

[whm1974]

Here is article about using barley for bread. Long read however:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S073352101100018X
An hour long video about using naked barley for food:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVJNcA5dY5I

 

[whm1974]

Just had a thought. make a healthy beverage with malted naked black/purple barley with soda water as a replace for sodas?