TJ's 10 minute Barley

[Diane Pinkers]

I thought I had found a new product for backcountry cooking whenI found Trader Joe’s 10 Minute Barley.  I just tested it in my kitchen, using my usual backpacking stove set-up, and I’m not really impressed.  I use an alcohol stove and a 650 ml Toak’s mug.  I put 1/2 cup of the barley into a freezer bag, and added 1 1/4 cups boiling water, ratio of ingredients as per the package instructions.  I put the freezer bag back into the pot, and the pot into a cozy, and set a timer for 10 minutes.  At 10 minutes, there was a lot of water that had not been absorbed, and the grains were edible but very chewy.  I set the timer for another 10 minutes in the cozy.  At 20 minutes there was still water that had not been absorbed, and the grains were not appreciably more cooked. It would have been edible, but seems too chancy for hungry trail cooking.  I poured off 3/4 cup of water, so only 1/2 cup had been absorbed by the sitting grains.

I see that there are a couple of other brands of quick-cook barley available. Has anyone tried them for the trail?  I’d love to have a parmesan-pesto-mushroom risotto for the trail.

[Valerie E]

I wonder if you could solve the problem by fully re-hydrating at home, then drying the barley in a dehydrator (like people do with rice)?  Although that adds a lot of inconvenience to the process… 😒

[Diane Pinkers]

That probably would work, but the point was to take the work out of it. So much for easy.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Yeah, a few years back they were selling it and I was hopeful. Nope. It was just highly polished barley. I was bummed.

[MJ H]

Waste of potential malt.

[Adam Holbrook]

You might be able to cold (pre) soak for several hrs then cook for a shorter period of time (like soaking beans) but that would negate any benefits of freezer bag cooking.

FWIW  – I’ve tried cold soaking several items and, So far I’ve not been impressed. Ramen isn’t bad and it rehydrated pretty easily, but cold soaking isn’t something I’ll be doing much of.

Hope you find something that works. It’s fun to try out new recipes at home. Not so much on the trail.

[Author]

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