For Part One, please click here!
It’s difficult to make candy without an exact recipe, but it’s more difficult when you don’t even have basic ratios. I began building my recipe knowing only what you know from Part One – that is, nothing more than the process. Unable to find barley germ, I finally settled on raw hulled barley. I made a thin porridge from this and rice, then tried to ferment this, but when it didn’t work I figured it wasn’t worth setting up and maintaining a water bath for three days. So I roughly ground the cooked grains using a mortar and pestle to add more grain to the soup, which substituted for water in a basic candy recipe. It turned out okay, but it tasted like cooked sugar, not barley. I tried again, but this time substituted puréed porridge for water, and saw better results. Although it didn’t taste exactly the same as bought candy, it was similar, so all that was left was tweeking, which took almost twenty trials. I also made a few improvements to the traditional candy by applying ideas from modern cooking. Here’s a step-by-step guide to making barley candy, in pictures:
Wash barley and rice. Lightly toast in pan until fragrant, then add oil to fry.
Make porridge using fried grains. Grains should be puffy and soft by end of cooking. I used a slow cooker, but it isn’t necessary. Purée porridge, then strain mixture through cheesecloth to remove gritty barley hull or burnt grain flakes.
Add porridge mixture, sugar, and glucose to pot. Boil while stirring. Add salt as late as possible before removing from pan (or else candy will absorb moisture and soften if not eaten within a few hours. Remove when almost at soft-crack stage. Cut/shape while still warm.
Stay tuned for Barley Sprout Candy, Part 3!
