Organic Winter Barley Seed 'Sonja'

Organic 'Sonja' Winter Barley

• Winter two-row barley

Barley (Hordeum vulgare), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Barley has been used as animal fodder, as a source of fermentable material for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods. It is used in soups and stews, and in barley bread of various cultures.

Barley grains are commonly made into malt in a traditional and ancient method of preparation. Malt is germinated cereal grains that have been dried in a process known as "malting". The grains are made to germinate by soaking in water, and are then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air.  Malting grains develops the enzymes required for modifying the grain's starches into various types of sugar. Depending on when the malting process is stopped one gets a preferred starch enzyme ratio and partly converted starch into fermentable sugars.

Barley can flourish in mild winter climates where it takes advantage of autumn and winter rains to help set its roots. Extended cold winter locations may experience winter kill, but the newer varieties of winter barley are more cold tolerant. The advantage of winter barley is that it will mature earlier than winter wheat and spring planted barley, and winter barley is an improvement over rye for animal forage.