Healthy Lemon Ginger Barley Water
- Total Time: varies
- Yield: 4 to 6 1x
- Category: Beverages
- Cuisine: Scottish
Ingredients
If using Instant Barley:
- 1/3 cup of Instant Barley, quickly rinsed
- 7 to 8 cups of water
- the peel in largish pieces (no white pith) from one large or two smaller lemons plus the juice from the lemon (s)
- about 1/2 inch of ginger, thinly sliced
- Honey to taste, 1 to 2 tablespoons (may use sugar or another sweetener of choice)
If using Pearl Barley:
- 1/3 cup of Pearled Barley, quickly rinsed
- 8 to 10 cups of water
- the peel, only, no white pith from one large or two smaller lemons and the juice
- about 1/2 inch of ginger, thinly sliced
- Honey to taste, 1 to 2 tablespoons (may use sugar or another sweetener of choice)
Instructions
To a saucepan, add the barley, the amount of water listed and the lemon peel. Bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer and cook about 10 minutes for the Instant Barley and 40 minutes for the Pearled Barley, or until tender.
In the meantime, add the lemon juice, ginger, and honey (or another sweetener) to a preferably glass pitcher. When Barley is tender, strain, then add the strained water to the pitcher. Remove the lemon peels from the Barley, rinse off any barley still adhering to them and add the lemon peels to the pitcher as well. (The lemon will continue to flavor the Barley Water, in a good way, but if left in the Barley, will continue to flavor it, leaving an off-flavor.) Stir to dissolve the honey (or other sweeteners.)
Serve the Barley Water, strained of lemon peels and ginger, warm or chilled over ice. Cover and store the cooked Barley to use in salads or other recipes.
Note: Barley water is very forgiving as to the amounts and strengths. The longer cooking barley uses more water to account for the greater amount of evaporation due to longer cooking time. Feel free to adjust the amounts of any and all ingredients to your taste.