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Barley-water

A drink made by boiling barley in water and flavoring with lemon juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Barley-water

Why it works: Pear and barley share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, fruity. The science ↓

Barley-water

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the barley

  1. Wash the barley in cold water and drain it.

  2. Put the barley into a saucepan with 1 pint of cold water and boil for 15 minutes.

  3. Strain off the water and add 2 quarts of fresh boiling water.

Cook and finish

  1. Boil until the liquid is reduced by half, then strain it again.

  2. For added nourishment, boil 1 oz. of gum‑arabic with the barley.

  3. Flavor with lemon juice 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Pear + barleytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together19 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  2. Pear + lemontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together942 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  3. Barley + lemontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together484 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Pearl barley
Its starch thickens the water and gives the drink body.
Gum-arabic
Adds body and a smoother mouthfeel to the liquid.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor of the drink.

The step that matters

Reducing the liquid by half. Boiling concentrates the starch and flavor from the barley. Stopping too early leaves the drink thin, and boiling too long can make it overly thick or bitter, so the reduction should be watched closely.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pear, barley):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Applefits better
  3. Plumfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pear, barley. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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