Quite good. I do not use pearled barley (equivalent of using refined flour to be “healthy!”) but used whole barley. Can be hard to obtain at mainstream stores but easily located at our lovely local Asian Market. I increased the amount of barley by 1/3 cup because I ended up using 8 cups of broth and I had seen a review on the cook’s site which said it was watery using only 7 cups. Well, it is not watery; made a stew, definitely not a soup. Yum. Keep in mind also that whole barley soaks up liquid like a champ - and then keeps soaking it up in the days to come; so soup that starts out a little runny will turn into delightfully chewy stew. For my broth, I used 4 cups beef stock and 4 cups chicken stock, and the subtle chicken backing to this was remarkably good. I did this as a freezer meal, so I can confirm that freezing works well. I usually get sick of my soups and stews about two days in, but I find myself babying this batch along because I don’t want to run out.