Barley water

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This Source

Barley water, usually flavoured with lemon or other fruit, is a popular British soft drink. It can be made by boiling washed pearl barley, straining, then pouring the hot water over the rind and/or pulp of the fruit, and adding fruit juice and sugar to taste. The rind may also be boiled with the barley.

Drinking boiled barley in water, strained or not, is an ancient practice. Barley water has been used as a first baby food, before feeding with barley mush. It is also used to treat cystitis. In Mexico drinks called aguas frescas are made by street vendors using similar methods.

In Britain, Robinsons Lemon Barley Water, now a Britvic brand, is popular with parents and children alike. It is sold in bottles of one litre of concentrate, which is usually diluted with three to five parts cold water.

Lemon Barley Water has a long association with Wimbledon, being still the official drink supplied to players on the court.

The Labour politician Josiah Wedgwood is said to have staged a filibuster in Parliament, sustaining himself with barley water and chocolate, in 1913.

External links

• Robinsons brand at the Britvic web site.
• Recipe at recipesource.com
• Recipe at Foodnetwork.com

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia © 2001-2006 Wikipedia contributors (Disclaimer)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Saturday June 14, 2008 at 04:17:02 PDT (GMT -0700)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation