barley

Cereal belonging to a family of grasses. It resembles wheat but is more tolerant of cold and draughts. Cultivated barley (Hordeum vulgare) comes in three main varieties – six-rowed, four-rowed, and two-rowed. (Family Gramineae.)

Barley was one of the earliest cereals to be cultivated, about 5000 BC in Egypt, and no other cereal can thrive in so wide a range of climatic conditions; polar barley is sown and reaped well within the Arctic Circle in Europe. Barley is no longer much used in bread making, but it is used in soups and stews and as a starch. Its high-protein form is widely used as animal feed, and its low-protein form is used in brewing and distilling alcoholic drinks.