at Mon, 04 Apr 2005 01:50:16 GMT in <emma-8F2DC4.20501603042005@news-
50.dca.giganews.com>, (Emma Thackery) wrote :

>
>Unfortunately, I can no longer eat barley. But I have a fair number of
>recipes that call for it. I've heard that millet, kasha and amaranth
>might make decent substitutes for barley. But my problem is, having
>used little or none of these grains before, I have no idea how to
>substitute them in comparison to barley--- how to adapt the cooking time
>or other ingredients (especially liquids). Neither am I certain if they
>are really good substitutes. Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

None are even remotely close, neither in terms of texture nor taste. Millet
has a much milder, milky flavour. It is a small, spherical grain, about
half the size of a rice grain. When cooked, if you use 2 cups water/cup
millet, it is fluffy. At 4 cups water/cup, it becomes mushy, a kind of
porridge.

Kasha (buckwheat) has a strong, earthy flavour. It is very fluffy indeed
and cooks very quickly. Its shape is unique, sort of a wedge/triangle about
the size of a wheat berry. Kasha is very popular in Russian cuisine. Use 2
cups water/cup. Any more and it just dissolves into a paste. Excellent with
mushrooms.

Amaranth is the most dissimilar. It's a tiny grain, about the size of a
mustard seed. Cooked, it has a gelatinous, almost slimy texture and a taste
very strongly reminiscent of grass. It's much more porridgelike and you
need 3 cups water per cup.

Is the problem that you're gluten intolerant? If so you're in for a rough
time because the most similar substitutes for barley are all true grains,
and AFAIK all contain constituent proteins that at least to some extent can
form gluten (correct me anyone if I'm wrong) Now, probably the most similar
is farro, a form of wheat with a softer texture popular in Italy. After
that, I'd have to say rye were next, although it has a considerably
stronger flavour. Lighter in flavour are short-grain rices. Wild rice isn't
very similar to barley but seems to work in the same dishes that barley
works in so it might be acceptable.


--
Alex Rast

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