Eat more barley

Forward mail from friend.Good to know.

Barley high in fibre, barley is also a kidney cleanser. Better yet, regular intake of it helps prevent heart disease.

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 form at ion of gallstones.


Diabetics should eat more barley as the fibre will prevent blood sugar levels from rising too high. It also provides relief from constipat ion 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.



Here's a recipe for barley soup:

Barley soup with roasted garlic
cup pearl barley
5 cloves whole garlic, roasted
2 litres chicken stock, steep ed from 1 chicken breast simmered in three litres water
2 tbsps vegetable oil
2 large onions, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
150g turkey ham, cut up
1 tsp ground white pepper
1 tsps sea salt or to taste
1 tbsp chopp ed parsley

Method
1. Wash barley and soak it in a bowl of w at er for three hours. Drain.

2. Heat oil in pan and fry onions Add carrots and celery, then the barley and fry for three minutes.

3. Add chicken stock, pepper and roast ed garlic and simmer over low he at for at least an hou r, or until barley is soft.

4. Add salt to taste and serve the soup garnish ed with chopp ed parsley.