Interesting. I checked the sites of the two stores we buy from most and both had barley. But it was pearl barley, whatever that is. Is that what you prefer?

I love beef with barley soup, haven't had it in ages. What do you use it for?

I buy pearl barley in the bulk section, but the store I buy it from has a very large bulk section.

I get pearl barley in the bin section at Sprouts.

We had the same problem, so we ordered a large amount online. Pearl barley keeps longer than unpolished barley, but I think we've had our unpolished barley for three years. I don't detect any rancidity.

"What do you use it for?"

As a grain side dish. Barley risotto is terrific, as is barley with sauteed mushrooms.

From The Kitchn (https://www.thekitchn.com/hulled-vs-pearl-barley-difference-97116) for those who were asking:

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What’s The Difference Between Hulled Barley and Pearl Barley?

The main difference between hulled barley and pearl barley is how they are processed. Hulled barley is made up of grains that have only had their outer husks removed, which are indigestible. Hulled barley has a darker and slightly tan color. Pearl barley grains have had both their outer husks and bran layers removed. Additionally, pearl barley is typically lighter in color compared to hulled barley.

More on Hulled Barley

Hulled barley, also known as barley groats, is chewy and rich in fiber and is a whole-grain variety of barley. Hulled barley generally takes longer to cook compared to pearl barley, about an hour or more. Both hulled and pearl barley are typically cooked on the stovetop, similar to rice, quinoa or couscous. [N.B. Couscous is a kind of pasta]

More on Pearl Barley

Pearl barley, which is often referred to as “pearled barley”, is the most common form of barley. It’s still chewy and nutritious, but less so than hulled barley because the outer husk and bran layers have been removed. Since the grains are polished and softer, they take less time to cook, about 40 minutes.

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The stores here usually have pearl, but they used to have pound bags of regular, hulled barley. Amazon has a large selection, including organic, as well as the pound bags from Goya. Central Milling has 5# bags of organic barley flour, but only commercial sized bags of hulled barley.

I used to make a lot of soup, and often added hulled barley. I'm not so fond of pearl barley in soup.

I've used both the pearled and the hulled. I usually use the pearled. The problem with hulled is it takes so darn long to cook, and I've had mixed results -- sometimes comes out well, other times too chewy -- and some recipes don't lend themselves well to the hulled (like the barley risotto).

Thanks for the info!

Are you in Michigan? Asking because of the MI at the end of your name. I recently bought a big bag of barley at an Amish store in northern west MI. Maybe see if there is one anywhere near you? Meijer carries only pearl barley these days.

I just checked two major stores in my town and both only have the quck cooked variety. The others are available but only via shipping. I haven't had it in years.

I've made barley risotto, frequently at one time but not recently. I did make oxtail and barley soup a few weeks ago but after a long many store search for oxtail! Cash and Carry (now something like Chef's Store) had it frozen when I'd wanted fresh beef and in about a 12# package when I'd wanted more like 3# 😊

I bought the pearl barley at a Haggen Northwest Fresh store. We no longer have a store that carries the full line of Bob's Red Mill. I have to get the rice flour there that I like to keep on hand for a light breading - store is an hour away but no one seems to have all the Red Mill products locally.

I get mine at the local health food stores with bulk sections, but I haven't bought any in awhile - it's more of a winter food for us - in soups and rice dishes. I've also cooked it half & half with brown rice - and I think I've only used pearled.

I also use Hulled or Hulless Barley, never pearled, interchangeably with farro for grain bowls.

No that I think about it, maybe mine was hulled. I'll have to check next time I'm at the store...

mxk3 - It’s not a grain I use much, but looking online I'm seeing less of the hulled. Where I am seeing it, it’s in the Goya section not the Bob’s. Might keep an eye out there.

edit - Sorry, just realizing you’re looking for pearl. That’s easy to find here.

I always use pearl barley in beef stew. It's easily found over here in any supermarket alongside the rice.

I am in Canada. The only types of barley I find, are pot barley and pearl barley. i generally prefer the pot barley, but I havent been able to fon that of late. i am very intrigued by the mention of barley risotto. i will be checking out methods for that.

barley needs a finer set of growing conditions than typical grains, thus making it more labor intensive, and thereby a more type of specialty crop. It also doesn't pull the demand that corn, beans, wheat and such enjoy. crop rotation is much more key with barley. Plus there's the processing, from where you get both the hulled and the pearled versions.

mxk, I'm also in Michigan, and the only shopping options in my small town are Walmart, Meijer and Aldi. Aldi never has barley, of course. Meijer has "quick" barley and Walmart says they have barley but they seldom actually have any in stock. No bulk or bin options here, but now I"m thinking I'd like some beef barley soup.

Annie

Our WM only has the Quaker quick stuff. Big A has quite a bit and a lot of it is the Bob’s you mentioned. The prices did not seem high to me, so I would order if wanted.

Quite a lot seems to be disappearing of all kinds of things. I love the jars of pickled corn and no one had them anymore. I just ordered a case of 12.

Would Walmart have any for shippping from one of their marketplace vendors? They have about as much as Amazon these days - with comparable pricing.

P.S. Walmart.com does indeed have a large selection of pearled barley some for pickup and the rest for shipping.

Acouple weeks ago I wanted to make Smitten Kitchens one pot farro tomato dish. Had only TJ’s 10 minute farro but a longer cooking form would be better. My local very small town grocery which has gotten more sophisticated (nice par-baked baguettes and no more cello wrapped green peppers, fewer 5lb bags masa harina) had no farro but did have Arrowhead Mills pearl barley. Worked fine in my recipe.

It is too hot today, but with fall coming I’m thinking of some mushroom barley soup ! I use hulled, not pearled. It’s always been available in the bulk bins at my local Whole Foods but maybe that’s changed, I’ll find out. I assume barley can be bought online?

Noooo - I happened to need something at Whole Foods and checked on the barley situation. None in the bulk bins! There was packaged barley, though, and I bought some. Will barley in 2024 be like toilet paper in 2020? I want to be ready!

Easily. Bought online, that is.

Re why stores are contracting their offerings, in the old days, stores liked to have everything you might want. Now, sell through is the big thing. They want it out as fast as possible. They don't have to care about serving you when you can just get whatever from Amazon overnight. Grocery profit margins are notoriously low. Only getting in that which they can sell quickly makes their numbers look better even if they actually made more with products that took half a year to sell. Like the semi-snooty store here used to have all kinds of different jams. Now they have a huge shelf full of cheap strawberry jam for kiddie PBJ and not much else, and you have to go to specialty shops or online to get the interesting jam. Whereas the really snooty store doesn't have as much imported fancy stuff, but do have a good variety of most things from jam to Jell-o. The semi-snooty place brought in specialists from Kroger. The truly snooty place is still trying to please the customers.

BTW, barley might be considered "seasonal" by big grocery stores, and may come back when it's "Fall soup weather". Assuming the presence of gluten isn't driving the dearth. :D

What brand in what size do you recommend?

[ Did anyone besides me cook barley since reading this thread? I cooked soup. ]

Have the ingredients, will do tomorrow or the next day. Serious Eats recipe.

Hey, good to know I inspired someone. LOL!!

I tried it once, we do not like the taste of barley. (and I like almost anything, lol.)

"in the old days, stores liked to have everything you might want. Now, sell through is the big thing." and increasingly they want you to order a thing they have on their website but don't have in the stores, for pickup at your local store or delivery to your home in a few days. Home Depot is doing this more and more. If I'm going to order online, why wouldn't I order from Amazon or some other big e-commerce company that usually has similar or lower prices and can deliver sooner? I try to "shop local", but I don't put Home Depot in that category.

I was gifted a 25 pounds last year from my local grainery. I was just digging through my freezer and came across a bag. As cooler weather comes it is time for heartier fare. I like barley risotto, in soups and salads. It also is nice in a breakfast bowls.

https://mainegrains.com/

" Hey, good to know I inspired someone. LOL!!"

I made it this afternoon. We had it for dinner and enjoyed it.

Like Cooks Illustrated recipes, Serious Eats will never be accused of rushing steps to get a dish finished quickly. Active time maybe 30 minutes, spread over 3 hours and a bit more.

It was really good. I need to tweak the ingredients and seasoning a bit to get it more to my liking. It's close to being beef stew soup, with barley. The barley was good.

I appreciated the inclusion of fish sauce. There's never too much umami with beef. I think next time, I'll sauté some mushrooms too along with the mirepoix to add more.

I didn't hear back from pilog what product was being recommended for an online purchase. We used a bag of pearl barley found at the grocery store near the dried beans. Some have mentioned dry products in bins at stores. There's enough odds and ends in regular packaged products, you couldn't pay me to use something in a store-maintained bulk bin.

Sorry. I didn't get that you were asking me specifically, and you said you had all your ingredients, so I figured that meant you'd gotten the barley. Barley is barley. It's a commodity. The only differences, besides straight off the stalk ("unhulled"), hulled, flake, rolled or pearl will be organic/sustainable/whatever-tilth, and packaging, availability, freshness, price. If I were buying online today, I'd probably choose Mulberry Lane Farms organic, hulled barley (5#). I have other of their products and like them, and buying right from the farm is nice. They also have organic pearl and rolled ("natural"). They're in Somis. But any decent packager should have perfectly fine barley.

Oh thanks for that info.

5 pounds is more than I'd likely use in a reasonable time. The recipe I used makes 12 servings, too much for just the two of us now in the household, I made a fractional amount, corresponding with the smaller than called for piece of chuck roast the meat guy cut for me. For the batch I made, I used 150 grams of barley (easier to work with metric than imperial when making an odd fraction). That's a likely size for future batches. 5 pounds is nearly 2300 grams (2.3kg), that could be too many years' worth, I don't like to store food for long.

The store bag was one pound (450 grams) of pearl barley so I'll stick with that. But thank you for responding.

Np. IME, regular hulled barley is better for ”in the pot” soups, and pearl is better for a la minute. That is, pearl cooks quickly and is ready for dinner. You can sub it for rice. When I make a soup with barley in it, it's usually very hearty, and the kind you make a day ahead of time, all day, expecting it to meld and improve in the fridge. For that, hulled barley is much superior. It'll stand up to all the simmering and just get better and better. Instead of getting waterlogged and mushy, it just gets more tender and chewy and flavorful. I'm not big on starches in soups, from potatoes and pasta to bulgar and rice, but I rather adore the hulled barley. ;)

I have never had hulled barley, but my pearl barley supply completely stopped after covid hit in spring 2020 and it didn’t become available to me again until this past autumn! I bought some then from Vitacost on-line and they still have it. Shortly after that it became available via the Walmart here.