"Pete C." wrote:
>
> I'd certainly cook the barley in the soup so it absorbs flavor and not
> just water. The key to not cooking it to mush is to add it late in the
> cooking of the soup.

Late? Barley takes a long time to cook through.
If I were still making beef barley soup, for example
if I could get my hands on some Australian beef,
I'd prepare the beef first, but then add the water
and barley at the same time. When the barley is done,
the soup is ready.

A good beef barley soup with LOTS of black pepper is
one of the nicest things you can have on a cold day.

Frying a little onion with the beef can improve flavor
and greatly deepen the color, but with enough black
pepper color won't be a problem.