Bankabygg

Pearl barley

I've been working intensively with Icelandic cuisine for a few years now, and I've come across recipes with barley from time to time, but a childhood memory (barley in a fast food restaurant in the Eastern Bloc in the 80s) left me permanently frightened. Completely wrong, as I have now realized!

I have now specifically dealt with pearl barley after I became aware of “móðir jörð” on Instagram. Originally started as a conventional family business at the end of the 70s, it increasingly switched to organic farming and organic food. The "Mother Earth" GmbH is about natural products, about typical Icelandic products that are produced in the country, about local and seasonal food that is produced without fertilizers, toxins, artificial colors, etc. And also about the memory of traditional Icelandic ingredients, which have been increasingly replaced by imported foods in recent decades.

A typical example of this is “bankabygg”. These are barley grains that have been polished and peeled. They are available in different sizes, the finest quality is called "pearl barley". Pearl barley used to be used as a matter of course for groats, as a side dish, as a dessert or even for making sausages, but over the years it has been replaced by pasta and/or rice in more and more households. Noodles and rice are imported products that cannot be produced in Iceland itself - unlike the traditional pearl barley.

Fine pearl barley

The products of " móðir jörð ", which are produced in Vallanes in East Iceland near Egilsstaðir, are sold both on the farm itself and in supermarkets throughout Iceland. The product range includes Icelandic vegetables, Icelandic herbs and Icelandic grains.

Source: vallanes.is

We asked Eymundur Magnússon and Eyglo Björk Ólafsdóttir, the operators of "móðir jörð", for their favorite Bankabygg recipes for our blog - and we presented them to you at our "byggvika", our blog event "Barley Week"!

- Morgunmatur Gabriel
- Bygg pink
- Bankabygg risotto with gráðosti and valhnetum
- Byggterta með vin santo

Source: vallanes.is

PS: If Eymundur Magnússon sounds familiar to you - maybe you've already seen him as "Pabbi" in the " Hardest Karaoke Song in the World ". (And if not - definitely catch up, I love the song, an absolute catchy tune guarantee for me!)

[Translated from here.]