Naked Barley

Naked barley is best for food use but modern barley is mostly covered or hulled. 8,000 years ago barley mutated and lost its ability to tightly stick the husk to the grain. Naked barley grain freely sheds its husks when harvested and can be eaten as a wholegrain without processing, with its full flavour and nutrition.

As usual this year's weather is proving utterly different from last year, when the Beast From The East severely delayed planting of spring crops, resulting in reduced yields and some quality. 

It's wonderful to see Professor Martin Wolfe's pioneering work on agroforestry reported in the The Guardian & reaching a wider audience. Martin is a long-time friend and mentor to Hodmedod, and grows naked barley, lentils, wheat and more for us. His whole farm system approach and drive for diversity at every level are an inspiration to us

After a global search for seed, a couple of years of trials (and several months working out how to flake and mill it) we’ve finally welcomed organic naked barley into the Bean Store.

We're very excited to be working with East Anglia Food Link and a small group of farmers to revive British production of naked barley, a remarkable crop. We hope to have small quantities for milling and for sale as a whole grain this autumn. We now offer a range of naked barley products - wholegrain, flakes and fermented.