COLUMNIST: KAREN STEWART-RUSSELL
Known as a landrace, meaning a crop with an extensive history that has adapted to local environmental conditions, bere barley adapts to growing in poor, acidic soils, and is a ninety day crop making it well suited to our short growing season here in Scotland.
Currently, it is only grown commercially in Orkney, Shetland, and the Western Isles, with most farmers elsewhere having changed over to more modern, higher yielding varieties as bere has a long straw making it prone to falling over which is not ideal for easy harvesting on a large, commercial scale. In Orkney, bere is grown as a monocrop for bere meal production, used for making traditional biscuit (bannock), and in the Outer Hebrides, the mixture is grown for animal feed.
In the last decade or two, bere has seen an uplift in interest and popularity thanks to its use by distilleries on Arran and Islay in whisky production with more planning to use it in the future. Breweries on Orkney are using it in beer production. The inclusion of bere imparts a distinctive smokey flavour and makes the most of our agricultural history.
History is a major passion of mine and whenever I get the chance I volunteer on archaeological digs. On many of the East Lomond hill fort digs I excavated hearths, recording evidence of what was found and helping to build a picture of how people in the past lived. This interest led me to researching further what people in the Iron Age grew and historical agriculture as a whole. It is fascinating to know that a grain found in cooking vessels so long ago can still be grown and eaten today, living history at its best.
As a gardener, I do like a project and a challenge, something different to spark my interest. This year I set myself the challenge to grow bere at home in my small garden to help in maintaining this conservation variety. I am a strong believer in the importance of heritage varieties and keeping our history alive in whichever way we can.
Initially, I thought about keeping it to one small patch but after chatting with a gardener friend who had used barley in a meadow planting scheme, I am growing it in a small patch and also in some of my borders in place of the more usual grasses as part of an ornamental scheme.
As a keen baker and kitchen experimenter, I have previously malted shop-bought barley for bread making so the aim is trying to malt my own homegrown barley if I can get a good enough yield in such a small growing area. If not, I will cook it and eat it in a soup or stew.
I love to use more unusual foliage and fillers in my flower arrangements and I can imagine ears of bere looking striking in my home displays and decor.
There are many so exciting possibilities, I am looking forward to giving a go.
Karen Stewart-Russell lives in the heart of rural Fife. Passionate about the mental health benefits of gardening, she loves to share the joy of growing through her garden wall seed, plant, and book library. Karen has a relaxed, wildlife friendly garden, full of flowers, and is a huge fan of roses. Her latest project is an apothecary garden as her enthusiasm for utilising herbs and useful flowers grows. Follow her on Instagram, or tune in to the Scotland Grows Show to hear more from Karen.