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Drink

Barley Water

A simple drink made by steeping pearl barley in boiling water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Barley Water

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Wash the pearl barley in cold water and discard the water.

  2. Pour ½ pint of boiling water over the washed barley.

  3. Let it stand for 2 hours, then strain the mixture.

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
Gives the water its mild flavour and light body as it soaks and releases starch.

“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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