{"id":787,"date":"2023-08-22T22:59:37","date_gmt":"2023-08-22T22:59:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/2023\/08\/22\/unique-fun-facts-about-barley-or-is-it-malts-or-malted-barley\/"},"modified":"2023-08-22T22:59:37","modified_gmt":"2023-08-22T22:59:37","slug":"unique-fun-facts-about-barley-or-is-it-malts-or-malted-barley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/en\/news\/unique-fun-facts-about-barley-or-is-it-malts-or-malted-barley\/","title":{"rendered":"Unique Fun Facts about Barley: Or is it Malts? Or Malted Barley?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unique Fun Facts about Barley: Or is it Malts? Or Malted Barley?<\/span><\/h3>\n

By: <\/span>Living a Stout Life<\/a><\/p>\n

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Is it malt? Is it barley? Or is it malted barley?<\/span><\/p>\n

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We know you know the difference. We also know you understand how valuable barley is to the beer you brew and drink. But did you know that barley was once used as actual currency? <\/span><\/p>\n

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Can you imagine going into a car dealership with 15,000 pounds of barley in exchange for an SUV?<\/span><\/p>\n

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Ok, back in ancient Mesopatomain times you weren\u2019t using barley to purchase cars, but still – the thought is quite entertaining.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Welcome to Malteurop Malting Company where you\u2019ll not only get high quality malts alongside superior customer service, you\u2019ll also get built-in barley trivia (trivial) facts to keep you and your customers entertained. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Take for example, the mere fact that the famous Roman historian, Pliny the Elder, stated that barley is the food for the gladiators because it gave them the high amounts of energy needed to be\u2026well\u2026 gladiators. What a way for Russian River Brewing Company to capitalize on an ingenious name. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Want more useful (useless) barley trivia? We\u2019ve got more. Prepare to be entertained. But make sure you\u2019ve got a glass of malted barley (along with yeast, hops, and water) in front you.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Are Malts and Barley the Same?<\/span><\/h4>\n

Let\u2019s start at the very beginning. Are malt and barley the same? No. But while malt and barley are not the same – malted barley and malt are the same, at least for our intents and purposes.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Barley is an agricultural product in the family of grasses. <\/span>Hordeum vulgare, <\/i>to be exact.<\/span> Malt, also called malted barley, is processed barley. Meaning the barley goes to a malthouse where it is steeped, germinated, and then dried in a variety of ways to create the colors and flavors we expect from the liquid gold it imparts into our glasses.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Interested in ancient malting practices? <\/span>Click here<\/u><\/span><\/a> to learn more.<\/span><\/p>\n

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For brewing, there are two general types of barley: 2-row and 6-row. Which you already know. But did you know that 2-row is the primary type of barley used for malting and making beer in Europe due to its high sugar content? Six-row, which is protein rich, is really only used for animal feed. However, while most American brewers use mainly 2-row, 6-row barley is also still used for brewing in the U.S.<\/span><\/p>\n

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More Fun Facts About Barley that are Barely Known<\/span><\/h3>\n

Now that we\u2019ve got that settled, let\u2019s get down to the real barley business with a few obscure facts about this well-loved grain.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Barley is old! Like 10,000 years old. It is believed to be one of the world\u2019s oldest cultivated crops, beginning its domesticated journey in Southwest Asia.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Did you know that barley was used as a standard measurement tool? Yep. In early 14th century England, King Edward II standardized that three grains of dry barley placed together end to end equaled one inch. These were otherwise known as barleycorn units. This system of measurement was also the basis for the UK and US shoe sizes.<\/span><\/p>\n

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While we all like to think that barley is grown for the sole purpose of making the beers we love, over 25% of it is used for animal feed, with the remainder used for both food and malting purposes. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Barley is a cold-weather crop with a short growing season and is grown in more than 100 countries. The top 10 barley producing countries, which account for three quarters of the total global barley production, are: <\/span> the Russian Federation, France, Germany, Ukraine, Canada, Australia, Spain, Turkey, UK, and the US.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Ever heard of malt vinegar? You got it! Barley is also used to make malt vinegar.<\/span><\/p>\n

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How about barley coffee? Not so common, right? However, in Italy during WWI and WWII, when coffee was no longer easy to access, roasted barley became a substitute. Not quite the coffee you would expect from Italy, but it has its benefits. No caffeine, for one. And for two, it\u2019s stock full of nutrients, complex carbs, and antioxidants.<\/span><\/p>\n

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England recognizes the health benefits of barley, as well. In straw form. Barley straws have been shown to decrease unwanted algae growth in ponds, without any detrimental effects on plants and animals within those ponds.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Because barley is a cold weather crop, its roots grow deep into the soil protecting the plant from intense wind and rain. These deep roots also provide the land with natural erosion control.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Not only is barley great for erosion control, but also weed control. Barley\u2019s height acts as a natural sun control, reducing weed growth in the process.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Malteurop Malting Co: Expert Maltsters<\/span><\/h3>\n

Okay, we all know that obscure fun facts about barley barely makes us experts on barley or malted barley. But one thing is for certain, Malteurop Malting Company is an expert. <\/span><\/p>\n

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From field to glass, MMC has compiled an innovative and expert team of farmers, maltsters, scientists, and <\/span>craft sales representatives<\/span><\/a> to get you access to <\/span>superb quality malts<\/span><\/a>. And you don\u2019t have to be an expert to know that superb quality malts create <\/span>superb quality beer and whiskey.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cThe difficulty, and also the fascination, of our maltsters’ craft is their ability to transform living, natural products that are variable by nature into a variety of standardized products that deliver highly consistent flavors, colors, aromas and performance. With our extensive knowledge of malting and meticulous formulation and testing, we deliver the highest quality, premium malts that match our brewers\u2019 specifications consistently and reliably, time after time.\u201d (Malteurop)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Now those are facts worth knowing.<\/span><\/p>\n

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– – – – –<\/span><\/p>\n

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https:\/\/thinkbarley.com\/2020\/09\/11\/fun-facts-about-barley\/<\/u><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.softschools.com\/facts\/plants\/barley_facts\/944\/#:~:text=Barley%20belongs%20to%20the%20group,is%20used%20as%20animal%20food<\/u><\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.feedipedia.org\/node\/227<\/u><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.1000springsmill.com\/barley<\/u><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/beef2live.com\/story-us-barley-facts-0-212886<\/u><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/blog.homebrewing.org\/brewing-grains-and-malt\/<\/u><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/foodprint.org\/real-food\/barley\/#:~:text=Barley%20was%20used%20as%20currency,the%20size%20of%20an%20inch<\/u><\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unique Fun Facts about Barley: Or is it Malts? Or Malted Barley? By: Living a Stout Life   Is it malt? Is it barley? Or is it malted barley?   We know you know the difference. We also know you understand how valuable barley is to the beer you brew and drink. But did you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":785,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_titles_title":"Unique Facts about Barley and Malted Barley","_seopress_titles_desc":"Did you know that barley was once used as currency? Can you imagine going into a car dealership with 15,000 pounds of barley in exchange for an SUV? That's just one fun little tidbit in a giant jigsaw of barley fun facts and trivia.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technical-spotlight"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}