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Drink

Rice and Barley Waters

A chilled beverage made by boiling rice or barley in water, then sweetening and flavoring it before serving.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Rice and Barley Waters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the rice or barley thoroughly in cold water.

  2. Place the grain in a pot with 2 quarts of fresh cold water.

Make the water

  1. Boil the mixture until the water is reduced by half.

  2. Strain the liquid, then cool it.

  3. Sweeten and flavor to taste before serving.

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

Rice or barley
Starch from the grain thickens the water slightly and gives it body and a mild, grainy flavor.

The step that matters

Boil until the water is reduced by half. Boiling extracts starch and flavor from the grain into the water. Stopping too early leaves the drink thin and weak, while boiling too long over-concentrates it.

“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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