Home > Categories > Beverages > Fruit Juices > Lemon and Barley Fruit Syrup 710ml review
Lemon & Barley has been a family favourite for generations - children drink it by the gallon on Summer days, and every grown-up loves the way it takes them back to their childhood.
Makes 5 litres
Preservative free
Contains gluten
Product reviews...
This is the go-to cold drink option in our household! There is always a bottle chilling in the fridge. The main way that we consume Barkers Lemon & Barley Fruit Syrup is coupled with bubbled water using our Soda Sparkle machine. This means that the kids get their fizz intake without all the nasties that normal fizz has.
On occasion when there are sick bodies in our household this has also been used as a hot lemon drink to soothe the throat and it is just as tasty. Another useful fact is that because it's concentrate, it means that no matter what, you can make a glass up for everyone's tastes because you just add more or less depending on your taste.
The world is turning environmentally focused and I love the fact that our Barkers syrup comes in glass bottles, of course we reuse these for various other things after the syrup is finished. Also love the fact that they come in a good sized bottle (as you only need a small amount each time) which means the bottle lasts for a fair while
Often we have also purchased the lite version as well - which doesn't have any difference in taste, just less sugar. I love the fact it's NZ made and produced. No artificial sweeteners or preservatives either. Barkers Fruit syrups are always first choice by the kids at the supermarket as they have a good name, taste great and are good for you as well!
When I first saw this syrup on the shelf at my local supermarket my heart stopped, and all the memories of my childhood raced in to my mind, I remember making lemon and barley while on holiday at my nans home, I did not hesitate to grab a bottle and as soon as I got home I made a glass up to taste. To my surprise it taste just the same as the freshly made juice I used to drink, not too sweet and not too sour it was just right.
I like how you can make up as many litres as you need (up to 5 liters per Barkers lemon and barley syrup bottle) or just a cup full by following the easy to follow instructions on the back, it is yummy tasting made hot or cold or sparkling water. I have been going through a whole syrup bottle of Lemon and Barley in a week making it up as I'm needing it, I tend to make it up more watery when my children have a drink as that's the way they enjoy it.
It's a made in New Zealand product and has a good source of vitamin C, no added colour, artificial sweeteners or preservatives which is always a good thing.
I have always loved Lemon and Barley and this brought back memories of my Mothers on the farm.My mum would squeeze lemons and boil it with barley and sugar and end up with a concentrate when she had gone through the processes. Taste was simply wonderful I served it over some ice cubes for a cool summers drink with a slice of lemon looks great . loved it has no artificial colouring artificial preservatives, artificial sweetener or artificial flavour . No Gluten so great for family member who can't have Gluten. Wonderful guilt free drink all the family can enjoy young or old and its giving you Vitamin C in every mouthful. Best thing of all New Zealand Made which has a lot of appeal to me it means I am supporting a New Zealand business
Price wise I think its a good buy ,you are buying a well made quality product without all those hidden nasty's. I'm sure most parents would rather buy a good quality product than something filled with sugar and colouring and preservatives. Now we have it in our pantry for ourselves and our grandchildren and I brought some for my elderly mum who said its was lovely .It will be something that remains on our grocery list .
When I was little if we had juice it was always like this from a syrup that you mixed yourself and it was normally always lemon and barley so drinking this takes me back to my own childhood and the memories I have of drinking lemon and barley when I was younger.
I bought a bottle of this this week to try and really liked it. You don't need much syrup to water as it makes a really nice sweet drink with just a little amount so the bottle will last for a really long time. My daughter probably has them a bit more concentrated than me as she has a bit of a sweet tooth and liked it made a bit stronger. It has a great lemon taste and is really refreshing.
Although we don't buy juice a lot I would much rather by this for my daughter than Raro sachets as these seems a whole lot better for you and far less sugar, plus she said she likes this better! At around $5 a bottle and the amount of time it would last you it is really good value for money too so I think I will be buying this over summer to make sure everyone stays hydrated.
This syrup just takes me back to my childhood and the syrup my mum used to make. So refreshing on a hot summers day (like today!) Firstly I like that this is made in New Zealand and is glass so can easily be reused or recycled. Huge plus. We are converted to drinking these syrups over the cartoned juice we were buying, as this is a much more cost effective way to drink a water alternative, and better for the environment in that we don't have packaging to throw away. To get five litres out of a 710 ml bottle is awesome.
I prefer this cold so am making an effort to keep cold water in the fridge. As we get empty bottles I will probably just ensure that I have the bottles made up and ready to drink in the fridge . I love that there is no horrible aftertaste with this syrup. Its all natural with no artificial anything. Gotta be good! Whilst it does have sugar in it you can increase the dilution for kids if you wish. I have been drinking this with carbonated water and ice as suggested and love it. Much better than some of the other flavoured syrups on the market that have artificial colours and flavourings.
I can definitely recommend this to have in your fridge especially with summer hopefully approaching fast.
I never thought lemon drink would taste so good and smell amazing like Barker's Lemon & Barley Fruit Syrup.
We always have bottled soda and powder juices in our house but never had tried fruit syrup. I like fruit drinks but I have never like lemon infused as all the lemon drinks I have tried doesn't taste nice. It's either have strong smell like those dish washing liquid soap or toilet fresheners or have funny tastes.
Been given a chance to try Barker's goodies including this Lemon and Barley Fruit syrup and I must say I like it a lot or better say I love it. It is very refreshing, thirst quenching and the sweetness is just right . And my baby loves it too! With the price of $5.80 and it makes 5 litres, it's a good value for your money plus you can use the glass bottle as it is recyclable perhaps as a vase or just bottle for your juices.
These fruit syrup are good alternative from bottled soda, I will be serving this to family occasion, a nice gift to friend's dinner invites. I am happy to buy more of Barker's product specially this Lemon and Barley Fruit Syrup. I am keen and thrilled to try more Barker's goodies and discover new exciting tastes.
I have fond memories of lemon & barley syrup drinks as a kid. Nothing beat a tall glass of that yummy tartness, loaded with ice, sitting out by the neighbour's pool and soaking up sun. What ever happened to those days? They just kinda faded off as I grew older.
Now at least, I can still revisit those glorious days gone by every time I grab a glass of this fine beverage... made better by adding it to carbonated water from the SodaStream machine in the #FoodLab test kitchen. The added 'sparkle' gives it a nice lift and enhances the flavour too.
What I also found was good with this syrup was a range of baking options, eloquently covered by previous reviewers. I also just made up a slightly stronger than normal brew and froze it in the ice-cube trays. Adding a couple of cubes to a tall glass of chilled water gives it a subtle flavour much like the overpriced "flavoured waters" you buy at the supermarket, but at a tenth of the cost! And if you want more flavour, just drop in another cube or two!
Overall, this was a lovely drop, and so amazingly versatile. What really surprised me though was how well it worked as an ingredient in a fish marinade. Replacing straight lemon juice, this took away some of the sourness I find when I use fresh lemon and/or juice on fish - this was a really nice alternative that allowed the fish - cooked en papillote - to remain moist and tender, with that lovely herby-lemon fragrance but also sweet to the taste. Such a versatile product is hard to beat, especially at this price.
I was so excited to be given the chance from KIWIreviews and Barkers to review this syrup. Previously i have been an avid purchaser of the Lemon, Ginger and Honey flavour - so i couldn't wait to try this one.
Barkers appear to have an awesome reputation within New Zealand producing high quality NZ made gourmet yummies! The price is great for the amount of product you receive, for a drink you 'just add water' and its fantastic hot or cold.
The children and my partner really enjoyed this cold, and my partner thinks it great that you can just make it up one glass at a time. I personally prefer this hot, i just add boiling water to the syrup. Its nice before bed as its not coffee! It is a wee bit sweet - so if you prefer a lemon drink that's not sweet you could use less.
I also trialled this in a cream cheese icing along with Barkers Lime Curd and it gave a lovely zesty taste. I think the product is rather versatile as you can drink it/bake with it and I'm pretty sure it would be nice over ice cream! Another option would be in a cocktail - yum!!
The packaging of Barkers good - it comes in a nice sturdy glass bottle which can be recycles or re used for home made sauces - or to refill with made up juice from other Barkers syrups!
I struggle with drinking enough water a day so when I could get to review this it was great. It says it makes 5 litres I think I could possibly get more.
Now I left it on my bench so I remembered to do the review and my mum walked in and got all excited cause she likes this. So I made up some in my 1 litre jug, i used about 150mls and filled it with water, and it tasted ok so i added a little more and it was great.
I drank a glass warm and cant say I liked that too much, so I put it in the fridge. All day today I have been drinking this nice and cold, some drinks I added a slice of lemon others added ice and some just drank it as it was in a glass. Its just really good I have almost finished the litre jug I made so I think its working with getting water into me with a yummy drink.
The bottle is glass which is great and reusable in fact on the bottle it says please recycle me. It tells you on the bottle what is in it and instructions on how to make up a drink 1 part syrup and 6 parts water. I was going to make ice blocks for the kids but cause its got barley in it that went out the window so for now I have a drink that the kids cant have finally.
So if you are after a refreshing drink with summer coming up this would be great to serve up, make up a big batch of it, ice, lemon and you have a summer treat :)
At $5.80 (or thereabouts depending on your supermarket) this is great value for money.
I've always been wary of anything that has barley flavour in it, simply because I haven't had anything barley flavoured that actually tastes nice. This, tastes great! If you like a sweet drink then all you need to do is to add a little more than it suggests to, and if you don't like your drink too sweet then just add a little extra.
I like to give juice to my kids as a treat, and when I do, it's always using a syrup as I find it goes far. With this, if I was to water it down even more so for the kids, then I could do 7, maybe even 8, ltrs of drink and the kids would still gulp it down, loving the taste. My 3yo was asking for more.
I do have some of the syrup left, and it's going aside for now as the kids have had their juice for the week, but I plan on doing some baking and substituting my milk with some of this to see what yummy cake comes out of the oven and into tummy.
Lemon and Barley, it has been a favorite combination for drinks for as long as I can remember. My nana always had lemon and barley drink in her fridge. As a kid I used to wonder why anyone would mix 'hay' with lemon and make it into a drink... the innocence of children but barley is a member of the grass family so easy to see my confusion as a child.
Recently I was given the opportunity to review some Barker's goodies, one of which was the Lemon and Barley flavored syrup. This syrup comes in a generous 710ml bottle and for a RRP of just $5.80 it is definitely worth every cent.
It has an average serving amount of 5 litres... depending of course on how strong you make it as a drink or what you are using it for.
We tried it mixed with good ole H2o in the SodaStream maker, and it was soooo good. In fact for the price and the amount used, we have decided to continue to use it as a SodaStream flavor as it is definitely worth it. The kids loved it too which is even better!
I like that the bottle has a kind of old fashioned look to it, it is easy to open, easy to read and easy to pour... no fuss, no mess, just yummy goodness to the last drop.
Whoever came up with the flavour combination of lemon and barley did a great thing. And like the other Barkers products out there, this is a great tasting fruit syrup.
It is very hard for me to decide on what flavour is better, so I am going to just say they are all as good as each other, and there wasn't one taste I preferred to another. They just taste great, lemon and barley is no different, and will be a real memory trip for people who remember having this flavour as a child.
I'm pretty caveman-like when it comes to things like this, I will just drink the syrup as intended, and not use it in culinary attempts, but I can easily see where a great product can be used as a substitute in cooking, this is one of them.
It would also be a great product to lay down as a base for a punch, it's flavour is just right, the overall experience does change when the dilution is changed, but it is never a bad experience, just a different one.
We will definitely be buying this product again, my flatmate can't get enough of it.
I was delighted to be given some delicious syrups to review. All the Barker's products I have tried have been top quality and the lemon and barley drink was no exception. I spotted it in the supermarket and at only $4.99 I thought it was great value.
It reminds me of the lemon cordial my mother made for us as children. It was great added to chilled water. My daughters loved it like this too. It had the added advantage of not staining the carpet when it was dropped on the carpet. My husband is a sachet drink bloke and thinks syrup drinks are a waste of money. I made some up in the usual cordial jug and he commented about how refreshing it was.
I also tried using the syrup with my soda stream machine. I found it was best if I poured the syrup in the bottom of the glass and added the carbonated water. It reminded me of Schweppes sparkling lemon. I also added a splash of syrup to lemonade at that was divine. I tried as a hot drink and enjoyed it but the Barker's lemon, honey and ginger remains my favourite hot drink.
This is such a versatile syrup and I can see it great to use in baking instead of lemon juice too. While writing this review I had to make myself a a glass. Talking about it makes me crave it.
This syrup tastes like a liquid memory of my childhood. Its sweet and lemony. I ignored the directions on the bottle and just mixed it to taste. Such a nice way to disguise water!
Next I tried it in fresh boiled water for a lemony tea sensation - delicious. Being a breastfeeding mum, I'm finding that I have to drink heaps during the day and even in the evening. But I also crave sugar like anything. This drink helped a lot because it ticked all the boxes.
I got right down to experimenting with some cupcakes too. I made a vanilla cupcake and wondered how this syrup would go in the icing. I made a simple buttercream with butter and icing sugar. I then substituted the milk out for the syrup. A slosh or two into the mixture, and the cupcakes got iced. The icing was beautiful. Really creamy, lemony and the family were very impressed indeed.
Sitting in the hot sun yesterday, my daughter asked if we could make a lemon drink. I mixed up some of this with cold water, ice and a slice of lemon. She was so excited. One sip and she declared it refreshing and nice, before drinking the whole thing down and asking for more.
I also put some into a beer/lemonade combo last night, just to see how it would taste. The lemon flavour really zinged out of the beer and made a lovely fruity addition to my shandy. I've only had the bottle a matter of days but its already disappearing! Looks like our new favourite syrup!
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