Orzata

Generality

Also called almond syrup, emulsive syrup or amygdalin syrup, it orgeat syrup is a white soft drink with a very sugary taste.

As "it is deducible from the etymology of the term, the" orzata "original" was born as a derivative of "barley, or rather, of the seeds of the plant Hordeum vulgare (belonging to the Poaceae family). Later, while maintaining the same name, the raw material was replaced by almonds (especially in home preparation) and other ingredients of vegetable origin (mainly in commercial formulas).

Preparation of the Orzata

The preparation of the "barley" is anything but simple and below we will mention one of the most popular recipes.

Ingredients for the orzata

• Water 1,625 ml
• 3kg sugar
• sweet almonds 500g
• bitter almonds 150g
• 250ml orange flower water
• optional 30g Adragante Gum.

Procedure for the barley

• Crush all the almonds in a mortar, together with a glass of water and 750g of sugar, until you get a pulp;
• dissolve everything with the remaining water and pass in a clean cloth, squeezing well;
• then mix 2.250g of sugar to the emulsion thus obtained and melt in a water bath at a temperature NOT exceeding 40 ° C
• finally add the 250ml of orange flower water and, if necessary, the tragacanth (thickener and stabilizer)
• bottle

The preparation of the orgeat can be traced using pistachios instead of almonds; in this way you would obtain the pistachio syrup.
A less common (but rather interesting) variant is the milk barley, which is prepared by replacing the water with cow's milk.

Popular Use of Orzata

Orgeat is a real syrup; being concentrated, it should NOT be consumed pure, but diluted in cold water (especially appreciated in spring and summer). It is used very frequently in children's nutrition and, being considered "very nutritious", even in that of the sick. In popular culture, barley has sedative properties for coughs and sore throats.

Nutritional Properties

The barley is a highly energetic drink. It has an extremely high content of simple sugars and there are some traces of unsaturated lipids (some are essential polyunsaturated). The proteins are absent and the fibers almost insignificant. The saline portion of the barley is appreciable , since it follows (albeit in smaller quantities) the chemical composition of almonds; on the other hand, the vitamin one could be less significant due to the lower dilution capacity of the fat-soluble molecules. Finally, remember that the almonds used for the barley contain amygdalin (much higher in the bitter ones than the sweets), which is a molecule potentially toxic for the organism; in moderate doses this substance is not harmful but it is NOT RECOMMENDED its free intake (respect the proportions of the recipe!).
The consumption of orgeat syrup can be considered more or less suitable depending on the degree of dilution. Dissolving it a lot, the energy and carbohydrate intake is considerably lowered; on the contrary, if the aqueous component is scarce, the orgeat becomes suitable in case of: overweight, type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertriglyceridemia.

The average portion of barley fish could be 20g of syrup for each glass of water, to be consumed occasionally.