From what I can tell, Barley Malt Syrup is a pretty old technique. Of course, this doesn’t necessarily make it good for you. It is mostly plain ol’ glucose and very little fructose, which is said to be the most harmful form of sugar. Barley malt syrup is made by soaking and sprouting barley to make malt (this part is good!) and then cooking it along with more barley until the starches are converted to sugar. This is then strained and cooked down to a syrup under vacuum pressure to keep it from getting too “cooked” and instead drying into a syrup consistency. Though it can probably be made without the vacuum part and just take longer and the finished product may have a more cooked flavor..

Most of the community is okay with glucose in the form of sucanat or rapadura in moderation because they still contain all their minerals and such, but when a mixture is cooked down so much and filtered, a lot may be lost. There is not much nutrition in barley malt syrup, but it is fine to use and has been used for centuries in Asia.

Many people in the natural food industry consider it a very healthy sweetener. It has a GI of about 42, which is less than honey and about the same as Whole Cane Juice (unevaporated).