Following a request for pearl barley I ordered whole grain barley by mistake. However as there is no organic pearl barley I wouldn't have bought it anyway.

The benefits of wholegrain barley is that it still has the bran, has not been heat treated and will sprout and can be used for beer or wheat-grass (although the proper term is barley-grass)

Hulled barley (or covered barley) is eaten after removing the inedible, fibrous, outer hull. Once removed, it is called dehulled barley (or pot barley or scotch barley). Considered a whole grain, dehulled barley still has its bran and germ, making it a nutritious and popular health food.

Pearl barley (or pearled barley) is dehulled barley which has been steam processed further to remove the bran. It may be polished, a process known as "pearling". Dehulled or pearl barley may be processed into a variety of barley products, including flour, flakes similar to oatmeal, and grits.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Barley#Food

However it does take longer to cook as does brown rice compared to the same type of white rice.

Cooking barley is similar to cooking rice. Cover 1 cup of pearl barley with 2 cups of water or vegetable broth and simmer for 30-40 minutes before fluffing with a fork. Or, try using a rice cooker. Add 2 1/2 cups water per cup of barley. Pre-soak barley in plenty of water to cut down on the overall cooking time. Barley can be pre-soaked for an hour or overnight. Pre-soaking will reduce the cooking time to about fifteen minutes.
vegetarian.about.com/od/glossary/g/barley.htm