Highland barley has the characteristics of early maturity, drought resistance, cold resistance, barren resistance, strong adaptability, stable yield, easy cultivation, short growing period and so on. Highland barley is a highly adaptable crop, which is well adapted to cold and barren conditions. It is generally sown from March to May and harvested from July to September, so it is called spring naked barley in the history of cultivation. The general production period is 100-130 days, and the seedling stage can withstand low temperatures of about -10℃. Flowering is not harmed at 9℃. It can still resist the low temperature of -1℃ during the milk ripening period. Highland barley can still grow and develop normally in the high cold area where the average temperature of the warmest month is close to 10℃ and the average daily temperature is higher than 5℃ for only 120 days.
Highland barley is an irreplaceable staple food for farmers and herdsmen in Tibetan areas, and it is also an important raw material for agricultural products processing industry such as feed processing industry and brewing industry in Tibetan areas. Highland barley is the main food of Tibetan compatriots, and the Tibetan compatriots who take highland barley as their staple food account for more than 80% of the total population of Tibet and Tibetan areas in Sichuan.
At present, most of the highland barley food is processed by replacing part of the wheat flour with highland barley powder, and the processed food products with highland barley as raw materials include zanba, highland barley noodles, highland barley cookies and so on. For hundreds of years, highland barley has only been used for brewing and grinding barley. Zanba, in fact, is the barley fried noodles. Zanba is the staple food of the Tibetan people, and the Tibetan people have zanba for three meals a day. Zanba is rich in nutrition, nutritional value is higher than rice, corn and general wheat, heat, hunger and cold.
The high altitude and cold climate of the Tibetan Plateau make the people living in the Tibetan Plateau have a great demand for wine. Highland barley is the main raw material for Tibetan people to make wine. Highland barley wine is mellow and delicious. Folk “poor residue” made of highland barley wine, ghee and honey is effective in treating hypotension. The existing highland barley wine can be roughly divided into non-distillation type of traditional jar of highland barley wine, the development of bottled highland barley wine and distillation type of high alcohol degree highland barley liquor, low alcohol highland barley roast wine, as well as the preparation of other ingredients of highland barley wine, such as equipped with various Tibetan medicinal materials or vegetables, fruits and so on.
