Barley is the grain of Hordeum vulgare, a cool-season cereal grass and one of the oldest crops in human history, instantly known by its long-bearded, bristling seed head. In the kitchen it is a chewy, nutty, mildly sweet grain that thickens soups and stews, swells into a creamy risotto-like "orzotto," and stretches salads; far beyond the pot, however, barley is above all the grain of MALT — the soul of beer and whisky — and one of the world's great animal feeds. Hulled (pot) barley keeps its fibre-rich bran; pearl barley is polished smooth and cooks faster but loses some of that bran.