Blood sausage usually served with freshly grated horseradish. Black pudding is the native British version of blood sausage. It is generally made from pork blood and a relatively high proportion of oatmeal. In the past it was occasionally flavoured with pennyroyal, differing from continental European versions in its relatively limited range of ingredients and reliance on oatmeal and barley instead of onions to absorb the blood. It can be eaten cold, as it is cooked in production, grilled, fried or boiled in its skin. It is often served sliced and fried or grilled as part of a traditional full breakfast, a tradition
Barley The preparatory "kykeon" or mixed drink of the initiates, prepared from barley and herbs, referred in the Homeric hymn to Demeter, whose name some scholars believe meant "Barley-mother". The practice was to dry the barley groats and roast them before preparing the porridge, according to Pliny the Elder's "Natural History" (xviii.72). This produces malt that soon ferments and becomes slightly alcoholic. Pliny also noted barley was a special food of gladiators known as "hordearii", "barley-eaters". However, by Roman times, he added that wheat had replaced barley as a staple. Tibetan barley has been a staple food in Tibetan cuisine since