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Dessert

Barley Jelly

A gelatin made by boiling pearl barley with water and allowing the liquid to set.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Barley Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine the washed pearl barley and water in a quart saucepan.

  2. Boil slowly until the liquid reduces to 1 pint.

  3. Strain the mixture and allow the liquid to set into a jelly.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Pearl barley
Starch in the grain thickens the water as it simmers, giving the liquid body and allowing it to set.
Water
Serves as the cooking liquid that extracts starch from the barley and reduces to form the jelly.

The step that matters

Boil slowly until the liquid reduces to 1 pint. Slow simmering extracts starch gradually and concentrates the liquid, so it sets firmly once cooled. Boiling too hard can cloud the liquid and reduce it unevenly.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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