Grapefruit Barley Water

This is considered a healthful herbal tea in much of the world.  I'd never heard of it, but it's in the Tea book, and those recipes almost always turn out well.  Besides, I happened to have 1/3 cup of barley left, and what are you going to do with that?

Unflavored barley water is considered a moderate curative and is often tolerated by infants.  Adding grapefruit juice gives the benefit of cholesterol-lowering compounds.  What you get is similar to a thick lemonade.  It tastes like a slightly sweet, creamy grapefruit juice.

As for the barley you just cooked, I let mine cool and froze it with the vacuum sealer.  I figure I'll use it on a salad at some point, or drop it into a vegetable soup at the last moment.  It still has significant nutritional value of its own.

1/3 C pearl barley
1/4 C sugar
2 pink grapefruit
water

1.  Place barley in a medium saucepan.  Add cold water to cover and bring to a boil.  Immediately remove from heat and strain.  Rinse barley with cold water; this step washes off impurities and extra starch brought out by the milling process.

2.  Return barley to saucepan.  Add 2-1/2 C cold water and bring to a boil again.  Cover and simmer for 1 hour.  Strain liquid into a pitcher and do whatever you want with the cooked barley.  Stir sugar into the water to dissolve and refrigerate until room temperature or lower.

3.  Squeeze juice from grapefruits and add to cooled barley water.  Refrigerate until chilled.  Serve cold, or even over ice as a grapefruit iced tea.

Makes about 2-1/2 cups, or at least 2 servings.

Difficulty rating  π