From ancient origins

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Barley is understood to be one of the earliest cultivated plants, part of the basis of modern agriculture as founded in Eurasia around 10,000 years ago. Even before the ancient wheat varieties Emmer and Einkorn, barley became established as a staple food. Pre-Christian cultures appreciated barley as the ‘Holy Grain’. In ancient Greek, Demeter, the goddess of fertility was also called ‘Barley Mother’. It was also used as a staple in the diet of the legendary gladiators of ancient Rome who were sometimes referred to as ‘hordearii’, literally ‘barley men’.  

In more recent times, a Russian scientist wrote 100 years ago that a wide diversity of hulless barley occurred in south-eastern Asia, China, Japan, Tibet and probably Nepal. Today barley remains important in the diet of modern day Tibetans, their basic food called Tsampa is made out of roasted and crushed barley and mixed with Yak milk. It is likely that a barley line from Tibet, called Himalaya, was the source of the original breeding material for BARLEYmax®. The background of the Himalaya barley grain remains elusive. It was collected early on, almost certainly from the Himalayas and taken to the USA where it appears in 20th Century literature. 

Himalaya made its way to Australia after CSIRO’s Dr Peter Chandler obtained the variety from Washington State University believing its ‘nakedness and tallness’ would be ideal for his research. Peter subsequently bred, along conventional lines, a variety named Himalaya 292. The health-promoting properties of this grain were recognised and defined by CSIRO colleague, Dr Zhongyi Li. Himalaya 292 was then crossed with an old Australian barley, Tantangara, to give the grain we know today as BARLEYmax® wholegrain.