A Healthy Vegetarian

Barley is stated by historians to be the oldest of all cultivated grains. It seems to have been the principal bread plant among the ancient Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans. The Jews especially held the grain in high esteem, and sacred history usually uses it interchangeably with wheat, when speaking of the fruits of the Earth.

Among the early Greeks and Romans, barley was almost the only food of the common people and the soldiers. The flour was made into gruel, after the following recipe: "Dry, near the fire or in the oven, twenty pounds of barley flour, then parch it. Add three pounds of linseed meal, half a pound of coriander seeds, two ounces of salt, and the water necessary." If an especially delectable dish was desired, a little millet was also added to give the paste more "cohesion and delicacy." Barley was also used whole as a food, in which case it was first parched, which is still the manner of preparing it in some parts of Palestine and many districts of India, also in the Canary Islands, where it is known as gofio .

In the time of Charles I, barley meal took the place of wheat almost entirely as the food of the common people in England. In some parts of Europe, India, and other Eastern countries, it is still largely consumed as the ordinary farinaceous food of the peasantry and soldiers. The early settlers of New England also largely used it for bread making.

Here is a delicious barley soup that is perfect for cold days.

• 8 oz. of pearl barley
• 2 onions
• 4 potatoes
• ½ a teaspoonful of thyme
• 1 dessertspoonful of finely chopped parsley
• 3-1/2 pints of water
• ½ pint of milk
• 1 oz. of butter.
  

Pick and wash the barley, chop up the onions, slice the potatoes. Boil the whole gently for 4 hours with the water, adding the butter, thyme, pepper and salt to taste. When the barley is quite soft, add the milk and parsley, boil the soup up, and serve.


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