There is barley water in which there is nothing from the barley body except, as it were, strength and image; has access for treatment and gives hope for help only a decoction of barley that has been completely cooked. It is best if you take twenty uskurrajs of water, and one uskurraj of barley, and about two-fifths of the water remains after cooking. Then the red, liquid broth is strained; This is liquid barley water, the nutritional value of which is the least, and the hydration is high. It washes with force, removes excess and promotes ripening, but cools moderately.
And there is also a decoction in which part of the barley body and flour remain. I prefer to cook this decoction not for very long, but on the contrary, to cook it just enough to take away its swelling property, but not to the point of making it very sticky. Such a decoction nourishes more abundantly, but washes less and promotes ripening. It often happens to sour in the stomach, the substance of which is cold, even if there is strong extraneous warmth in it, depending on the disorder of nature. Barley water is sometimes brewed from barley as it is, and sometimes from hulled barley. And the best sikanjubin, in my opinion, is one for which the sugar is leveled in a kettle, then strong vinegar, that is, wine vinegar, is poured onto it, so much so as not to flood the surface of the sugar, but, on the contrary, to leave it open. Then they put cooling coal or hot ash under the pot so that the sugar melts in the vinegar without boiling, skim off the foam and leave the liquid to stand for a while in low heat until the sugar is mixed with vinegar. After this, add two fingers’ worth of water and boil the liquid until it thickens. The combination of sikanjubin and barley water causes nausea and in most cases spoils the barley water.
You should not give barley water on a dry basis; it is better to give an enema before this. If the barley water turns sour in the stomach, then drink a more liquid decoction, and if it also turns sour, then celery roots or something similar are boiled with it. If such water turns sour, then you inevitably have to add a little pepper to it, especially when the matter is not very liquid and hot. If barley water causes a lot of swelling, then sometimes a little wine vinegar is added to it, for people with a hot nature, but if the patient is given sikanjubin in the morning, which breaks up the juices and prepares the excess for expulsion, then after this, two hours later, they give the above-mentioned first, liquid water from the barley gruel, in order to wash and cleanse the broken juices, and then remove them in perspiration or by urination. It is not harmful to give shikanjubin in the evening, when the food has already left the stomach. It is often necessary to precede barley water with julab in order to increase hydration, namely, when you see that dryness has overcome the body and tongue, and sometimes you have to give a little tamarind juice before both of them to soften the nature. All this is given two hours before barley water.