According to what I find on the internet (I have not confirmed any of those other than the internet) the glycemic index for steel cut oats is 53 while the glycemic index for whole barley is about 25, depending on which chart you look at but, according to Livestrong:
It appears that the GI for cracked barley is way more than that of whole cooked barley. You’re going to have to decide if you want to buy whole barley, crack it and use it instead of steel cut oats. I can say that for Vince, the barley does not spike his blood sugar the same as oats do.
Here’s how I cook it: I crack the barley on a very coarse setting on the grain mill. It seems to crumble a bit more than oats do and I end up with some of it being more like coarse corn meal so I sift that out and save it to use in cookies, brownies, add to cornbread, etc. I start with about 2 cups of water per half cup of cracked barley, add a bit of salt and simmer it until the water is almost all cooked out. Then I taste it and if it needs more water, I add a bit more, depending on whether it tastes like it needs a little or a bit more. Right at the end, I sometimes but not always add a bit of cream. That’s it. We add blueberries or backberries, sometimes apples.
Ming says
Hi Judy – I’m finding this information about barely quite interesting. I was wondering if you have ever thought of cooking the barley in the instant pot? I do it with steel cut oats and it’s great to not have to worry about them boiling over on the stove. 1 cup of oats, 2 cups of water on high pressure for about 4 minutes. I bet the barley could be done in a similar fashion.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
No. It takes 20 minutes on top of the stove. By the time the IP came up to pressure, it would take longer than cooking it on the stove. With the gas stove, since I can turn the heat up or down and get instant results, I rarely have a boil over.