Recently in Glycemic tips and tricks Category

I made a pumpkin soup thickened with barley (rather than potatoes) a couple of days ago but haven't yet got the proportions right.  I used too much barley so it was a bit too thick and slimy - more like a soupy risotto than a proper soup.  Barley behaves oddly once cooked too, in that it seems to go on getting more and more glutinous.  When I re-heated the leftovers 24 hours after cooking it, it had gone quite solid.

I'm not posting a recipe yet, but I'll have another shot at a similar soup some time in the next couple of weeks to see if I can make a better version.

Soups can be great for diabetics, but there are potential pitfalls.  Pureed soups can have a much higher glycemic load than chunky ones, especially if they contain potatoes.  I like winter soups to be thickened in some way, so recently I've taken to whizzing just a portion of the soup in the food processor, and adding it back to the main part, leaving mostly chunky vegetables with a thickened matrix.  Generally a happy compromise!

Rather than using potato as a thickening agent I'll be experimenting with pot barley and possibly some pulses such as lentils and split peas - all glycemic goodies as far as I can establish.  Rather than using generic soup mix (still in UK wholefood shops and supermarkets) containing a bit of everything, my plan is to match ingredients in a slightly more bespoke manner, eg.. red lentils to thicken a carrot soup,  yellow split peas with pumpkin, so that the thickening agent takes a decidedly background role...

Another thorny issue is the length of cooking time.  In general it seems the longer you cook things the higher the glycemic load.  I'm not keen on vegetable soups al dente (although with oriental style soups it seems fine) so more experimentation is called for.

Recipes to follow - watch this space.