One of the most environment-friendly things you can do is re-use something – or what’s left of it – after it has served its primary purpose. One of the most creative re-use programs I’ve seen yet, in the culinary world, is an initiative by the clever young beer lovers at ReGrained.com…
ReGrained.com co-founders Dan and Jordan, at their first event-market sales booth.
At regrained.com they’re repurposing spent brewer’s grain – Barley, Rice and other such stuff – by baking it into Granola Bars. Apparently they’re planning to expand into Cookies, Muffins, Cereals and other products as their fame and resources expand.
You gotta love their slogans, at ReGrained.com…
“Have your Beer and eat it, too!”
…and simply:
“Eat Beer!”
But it’s not all fun and games
It’s not that nobody thought about re-using spent brewer’s Grain before. It’s been used for animal feed and compost production for years. But to turn it into something intended for human consumption – something that might even be considered a ‘healthy’ treat – is unprecedented.
The challenge is not a small one. Turns out that, in the U.S. alone, they use more than six billion pounds / 2.7 billion kg of grain a year to produce more than 200 million barrels of beer. The time-worn phrase ‘a drop in the bucket’ might aptly describe ReGrained’s efforts to reuse Brewer’s Grain. But if it spawns a new industry and folds new wealth back into the economy, it’s more of a watershed moment.
Can you think of new ways to directly re-use ‘waste products’ from the food processing industry that would otherwise be thrown away or diverted from the human consumption stream? You could be the next ReGrained.com!
~ Maggie J.