sweetness and unusual flavor. The stalks are
cut while the grains are still moist inside, the
grains charred over a small straw fire to
weaken the husks and add flavor, then eaten
fresh or dried for keeping (Turkish firig, Arab
frikke).
Barley
Barley, Hordeum vulgare, may have been the
first cereal to be domesticated in the
grasslands of southwest Asia, where it grew
alongside wheat. It has the advantage of a
relatively short growing season and a hardy
nature; it’s grown from the Arctic Circle to
the tropical plains of northern India. It was the
primary cereal in ancient Babylon, Sumeria,
Egypt, and the Mediterranean world, and was
grown in the Indus valley civilization of
western India long before rice. According to
Pliny, barley was the special food of the
gladiators, who were called hordearii, or