Beat the heat with this healthy homemade barley water lemonade! A perfect thirst quencher with the goodness of barley. Check how to make the barley water and barley lemonade below.
Who doesn’t love the bright sunny days? We all enjoy the outdoors, pool parties, picnics, BBQs, but we need to make sure we are staying hydrated to beat the summer heat. Let’s say no to the sugar-filled aerated drinks and make some healthy beverages at home.
I am sure you will like my Indian style spicy lemonade, Limonana (Mint Lemonade) Recipe, limeade with basil seeds, rose sharbat, nannari sarbath and of course the humble buttermilk. I am so happy to add the barley lemonade to that lot as well.
Pearl Barley:
We all know that fermented barley is the main ingredient in beer and alcoholic beverages. But the nutty flavored cereal which resembles like wheat berries has much more to offer. According to WHFoods, it is a good source of minerals, dietary fiber, vitamin B1, and niacin.
Barley has a lot of medicinal benefits. It is known to flush out the toxins from our body, thereby curing any urinary tract infections. It is a natural coolant, and also according to this article, the fiber from barley helps to lower the cholesterol.
So let’s make use of barley and use it in our everyday cooking. You can find barley soup, puffed barley snack on my blog as well. Now let’s talk about the barley water.
How to make barley water?
Barley water preparation is very straight-forward. You need to simmer the rinsed barley in water till the water reduces to half in quantity. Filter the water and that’s it, your barley water is ready.
You can make lemonade or limeade or relish it as is with a pinch of salt. And with the cooked barley, you can make some salad or add into your soups. I have few recipes coming up with that, so stay tuned.
How to make barley water lemonade:
I made spicy lemonade with the barley water more like shikanji by adding lemon juice, pepper powder, Indian black salt, and sugar to balance out the flavors. But you can make lemonade according to your preference. If you like this style and wondering what is black salt or black salt substitutions and there here are the options.
Indian Black salt and the alternative:
Indian black salt is not black. It is mainly Himalayan black salt with added sodium chloride and sulfur that gives that pungent smell and flavor. When powdered, the color ranges from purple to pink. It is available on all Indian grocery stores, and you can find it on Amazon online as well.
If you are not able to source it, you can replace it with regular salt and for the flavor, add roasted cumin powder. For this recipe, you can add 1 tsp of salt and ½ tsp of cumin powder instead of black salt. If you can source, chaat masala, you can use that too.
Now without any further ado, here is how I made my barley water and the shikanji.
Ingredients:
- For barley water
- ½ cup pearl barley
- 4 cups of water
- For the lemonade (the below measure is for 2 cups of barley water)
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp sugar
- ½ tsp ground black pepper
- 5 tsp black salt
Steps:
- Rinse the pearl barley at least twice and drain the water. In a saucepan, add the cereal and 4 cups of water.
- Simmer it over medium heat for 30 minutes or until the liquid reduces to half in quantity.
- Filter out the water, and you will get about 2 to 2.5 cups of barley water and allow it to cool.
- When barley water is cooled down, add the lemon juice, sugar, ground pepper, and black salt. Mix until the sugar dissolves.
- Refrigerate and serve cold. You can add ice-cubes also.
Notes-
- As mentioned in the post, you can use regular salt and cumin powder or chaat masala instead of black salt.
- There is no set recipe for the lemonade; you can adjust the sugar, salt, and spice according to your preference.
- If you feel the barley water too, concentrated, then do not let the water to reduce in half the measure. Just simmer the barley until it comes to a rolling boil. Then turn off the heat and strain the liquid. Depending upon the barley water measure, adjust the lemonade condiments. The above quantity is for two cups of barley water.
📖 Recipe
Barley Lemonade
Ingredients
For barley water
- ½ cup pearl barley
- 4 cups water
For the lemonade (the below measure is for 2 cups of barley water)
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp sugar
- ½ tsp ground black pepper
- 1.5 tsp black salt
Instructions
- Rinse the pearl barley at least twice and drain the water. In a saucepan, add the cereal and 4 cups of water and simmer it over medium heat for 30 minutes or until the liquid reduces to half in quantity.
- Filter out the water, and you will get about 2 to 2.5 cups of barley water and allow it to cool.
- When barley water is cooled down, add the lemon juice, sugar, ground pepper, and black salt. Mix until the sugar dissolves.
- Refrigerate and serve cold. You can add ice-cubes also.
Notes
- As mentioned in the post, you can use regular salt and cumin powder or chaat masala instead of black salt.
- There is no set recipe for the lemonade; you can adjust the sugar, salt, and spice according to your preference.
- If you feel the barley water too, concentrated, then do not let the water to reduce in half the measure. Just simmer the barley until it comes to a rolling boil. Then turn off the heat and strain the water. Depending upon the barley water measure, adjust the lemonade condiments. The above quantity is for two cups of barley water.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.
Update Notes – This recipe was originally posted in 2014 but now updated with new photos and fresh content.
I have barley powder. Please tell me How to make barley water using that
I need to check on that. I will look at it and get back to you. Thanks.
I am going to try this. Have a lot of barley, but not sure if its pearl barley..it’s a tiny grain.
It should be fine yaar.. Give it a try
This was very informative and looks easy to implement Vidhya, nice one !
And congrats on the blogathon part :)
Thanks FV :-)
I have barley and now I know what to do with that thanks Sri:-) its idli day
:-) :-) thanks da
do you bring water to boil and then add barley or just keep the barley with water in stove and allow it to come to boil? sorry for too many questions.. I want to try this..
Yayyy to all us :-) No worries about the questions. I just keep the barley with water in stove and bring to boil. This is what I do Ani. Sunday night I boil this barley water and let it sit overnight. I don’t keep it in fridge. Morning it will be cool and I take it work. I reuse the same barley and add 4 more cups of water and bring to boil and use it that evening. Monday morning I soak idly rice and dhal and in evening I grind it the usual way. First urad dhal. After 20 mts, I add rice and barley together on top of urad dhal and add salt also.(I don’t take urad dhal from grinder). Let it grind for up to 30-35 mts. Fermenting takes one whole day for me. I just keep it out. Thats all.
I add lemon wedges or black salt sometimes in my barley water. I give this to kid only when he is sick. It helps to remove the toxins.
Super.. These days i have been drinking sukku water in the mornings… Buy dry ginger from store, crush and boil with water..will try barley soon.. Thanks a lot sri..
Oh great.. will try sukku water..
yayyyy on completing the blogathon Sri.. I want to try barley too..Few questions, do you grind idli batter the usual way like soak rice/dal for overnight, grind them seperately and mix? do you grind cooked barley too? My maavu never ferments properly… do you have any tips? I even tried keeping it in oven with light on :(
Awesome Sri!!! Congrats on completing the blogathon :) I have been seeing barley every where and wanted to do something with it. I am gonna try all these really soon. This is definitely a very helpful post!!!!
Thanks a lot Malar. Barley is really good. I get the pearl barley. Give it a try and let me know
Super idea Sri.. Will try this for sure :) and congrats on completing the blogathon. I am looking forward to read your posts :)
Thanks GB.. This barley water is really good… I will be back in 2 days :-) :-)
Yay! You did it! :) :) So glad you joined in, SriVidhya. **goes off to try the recipes from this blog**
yayyy to all us.. :-) Let me know how it turned out.. :-)