What is Tsampa?
Tsampa is the traditional food of the Tibetan people. Purple Mountain Tsampa is made from very good quality, clean, organic hulless barley grown on the great high plains of North America. Made in the traditional manner, the whole barley is roasted to a “pop” over a flame in small batches, and then stone-ground, fresh to order.
Since tsampa is already cooked, one simply mixes it with hot tea, water, milk or soup. There’s no need to cook it - it’s already roasted! Tsampa makes a convenient and quick breakfast, snack, lunch or dinner and it’s great on camping trips or while traveling. (See “Recipes” link for some modern recipe ideas)
Tsampa is not raw barley flour or roasted barley flour. The process of making real tsampa creates a very nutritious, digestible, yummy, instant, portable food.
About Hulless Barley
There are two genus’s of barley. One grows with a big ‘ole hull on it, which needs to be removed before human consumption. This type is called “pearled” or “hulled” barley, and is mainly grown in the USA for beer and animal feed. It is a processed food.
Purple Mountain Tsampa uses a different kind, called “hulless” barley which grows with the the big hull, and as such, is a whole food, retaining all of the nutrients of the barley. Hulless barley originated in Tibet and has been selected and cultivated for human food for something like 10,000 years. (see “Nutritional Info” link for more on the nutritional value of hulless barley)
What Purple Mountain Tsampa Offers
Since, 2009, Purple Mountain Tsampa has been offering two kinds of tsampa - White and Purple. Both are 100% whole hulless barley, just different varieties. The purple has a more robust, nuttier taste. Both have a great toastie grain flavor and are equally popular among customers.
Tsampa is great for:
A quick breakfast or snack- add whatever you like - nuts, dried fruit, honey, maple syrup…
Camping, trekking and traveling
Babies
Elders
The sick and infirm (mix into thin gruel)
Buddhist offerings of torma (offering cakes), and in sang fire offering ceremonies
As a gift for your special Rinpoche!
Nutritional Value of Hulless Barley
High Protein- Whole-grain barley has from 12-15% protein.
High Lysine- Lysine is an amino acid needed to produce complete proteins in the body. Lysine is the one amino acid most commonly deficient in cereal grains. Generally, hulless barley has about 0.40% lysine compared to 0.25% in corn and 0.37% in winter wheat.
High Fiber- Barley contains the unique water-soluble fiber form, beta-glucan, which is reported to have serum cholesterol lowing properties. Hulless barley has two times more beta-glucan soluble fiber than oats and other types of barley. More importantly, this fiber can produce 5-20 times more viscosity in the small intestine, which is believed to be the most important characteristic in cholesterol reduction. A 40 gram serving of barley provides >3 grams of soluble fiber. Oatmeal and most other barley products provides only 1.6 to 2 grams of soluble fiber per serving. Because of these qualities, hulless barley is recommended for diabetics.
Clinical studies prove that the soluble fiber found in barley lowers cholesterol and reduces the risk of coronary hearty disease. In fact, the heart-healthy benefits of barley are so significant that the US Food and Drug Administration authorized a health claim that barley beta-glucan soluble fiber reduces the risk of heart disease.
Gluten Allergy- Barley has a different type of gluten than wheat. Persons who are allergic to wheat or who are sensitive to wheat gluten may or may not be able to tolerate barley. Anyone with wheat sensitivity should test small amounts of barley for reaction.
Other Properties- Barley also contains the minerals calcium, chromium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, selenium and zinc and provides the amino acids alanine, arginine, aspartate, cystine, glutamate, glycine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, proline, serine, threonine, tryptophan, tyrosine and valine.
