Berkeley’s ReGrained is all about re-purposing.
Particularly when it comes to spent mash left over from beer making, that is.
UCLA fraternity brothers Dan Kurzrock and Jordan Schwartz were avid home-brewers who got the idea a few years ago to take that oatmeal-like mash with a nutty, malty flavor and turn it into nutritious energy bars.
After their ReGrained bars became a hit, they tinkered with more products that would highlight the mash, high in fiber and protein, that normally would be discarded or composted by breweries.
The result is their new ReGrained Puffs, a crunchy puffed chip snack that has the airy crispiness of shrimp chips.
I had a chance to try samples of all five flavors: Smoked Sea Salt and Pepper, Mexican Street Corn, Urban Garden, Texas Pit BBQ, and Aged Sharp Cheddar.
The puffs are made of ReGrained’s patented SuperGrain that’s made of barley, wheat, and rye. There’s also cornmeal to round things out.
The Smoked Sea Salt and Pepper is ideal for purists. It’s the flavor that lets the grain shine through most prominently, and one of my favorites of the bunch.
The Texas Pit BBQ tastes like your favorite barbecue potato chips with a bold sweet-salty-smoky profile. The Urban Garden is redolent of dried tomato, onion, and garlic. The Mexican Street Corn is the only one that has a noticeable yet still fairly tame hit of spiciness. The smoky paprika also is a nice touch.
My other top flavor is the Aged Sharp Cheddar. I’m a sucker for anything with cheese, and these have a natural, real cheddar flavor. A bit of blue cheese adds a deeper cheesy note, too.
About 39 pieces of any flavor have 100 calories. 17 grams of total carbs, 3 grams or less of total fat (depending on the flavor), and 200 to 290 milligrams of sodium (again, depending on the flavor).
They are a little salty, but quite addictive in the same way as potato or tortilla chips.
A 5-bag sampler pack (one of each flavor) is $19.99 on the ReGrained site.