Popped Barley for Breakfast

We were hankering after breakfast cereal this morning. I've been thinking about ways to turn the available local grains into a breakfast cereal, and have been working on putting together a granola recipe. So we decided to do a taste test on one of my intended granola ingredients: popped barley.

One of the standard industrial ways to prepare grain for breakfast cereals is to puff it. Puffing requires high temperatures and pressures, and it's dangerous to try at home. But, I read on a website somewhere, it's possible to pop other grains the same way you make popcorn. Okay, I thought. I have an air popper.

I decided to try barley. I couldn't tell whether it was popping or not, so after a little while I added a few grains of popcorn, so I would know when to stop. When the popcorn stopped popping, I pulled the plug and poured it out into a bowl.

The barley was popped! It didn't turn inside out the way corn does, but it had approximately doubled in bulk, and was tasty and soft enough to chew.

So, how did the popped barley perform in a bowl of milk? Well, it was a bit chewier than my ideal breakfast cereal, and it needed some sweetening, but it was perfectly palatable once I got used to it. Better, I think, than those Arrowhead Mills puffed grains, which have always tasted like styrofoam to me. Sophia's comment: "I think it needs a flavor."

I think I'll try a honey glaze, and see how it tastes after that.

9/19 Menus (cont.):

• my lunch: griddle cakes made from leftover grits (Cayuga Pure), eggs (back yard chickens), and corn and barley flour (Cayuga Pure); with blackberry/maple syrup (Littletree/Schoolyard Sugarbush)
• dinner: rice pasta (exception) with tomato-veggie sauce (my garden)
• bedtime snack: raspberries (my garden), popcorn (Finger Lakes Popcorn)

So, I finally used the rice pasta exception. We had a pretty rushed mealtime last night. I appreciated the convenience of only having to cook one thing from scratch.

9/20 Menus:

• breakfast: oatmeal (Cayuga Pure oats) with chopped peach (Black Diamond), raspberries, and raisins (Thornbush grapes); maple syrup (Schoolyard Sugarbush); and almond milk (Bremner Farms, CA)
• school lunch: pasta with tomato-veggie sauce (leftover), red plum (Black Diamond), cucumber (a friend's garden), and buffalo snack sticks (Glenwood)
• my lunch: pasta with tomato-veggie sauce, apple (Littletree), raisins
• my snack: crackers (Cracker Man of Etna), apple (Black Diamond)
• Sophia's snack: non-local (provided by her yoga teacher)
• dinner: beet tops (my garden) with cider vinegar (Littletree apples), honey (Greenstar bulk local) and bacon (Kingbird); fingerling potatoes (Greg's garden) with butter (Meadow Creek) and chives (my garden); golden honeydew melon (my garden)

9/21 Menus (so far):

• breakfast: popped barley (Cayuga Pure grain) with honey and almond milk