Spent grains used in creating micro brew beer are being turned into Bavarian-style pretzels. Chef Judy Capertina of Haole Girl Island Sweets said she made two batches last week and both sold out quickly. Capertina, who shares the certified kitchen
Spent grains used in creating micro brew beer are being turned into Bavarian-style pretzels.
Chef Judy Capertina of Haole Girl Island Sweets said she made two batches last week and both sold out quickly.
Capertina, who shares the certified kitchen at The Kauai Beer Co. on Rice Street in Lihue, developed Bavarian style pretzels using the spent grain used in creating the microbrew beer at The Kauai Beer Co.
“We grind it into a flour, and combined with bread flour, came up with a pretzel,” she said. “And you need to have the lye water to make it Bavarian style.”
Capertina said she uses local ingredients and the Hawaiian Java Black sea salt produced by Joanna Carolan of the Banana Patch.
“The grain is imported, but after it’s used to make beer, it’s local. We even use the beer it was used to make in the pretzel,” she said.
Paired with a dijon mustard, the item takes on the flavor of the beer it was used to create, Capertina said.
In addition to being available at The Kauai Beer Co., Capertina said the pretzels will be available at the Friday night Art Walk in Hanapepe.
A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in New York, Capertina said she shares acquaintance with Tom Pickett, owner of Kilauea Bakery and Pau Hana Pizza, who graduated in the class ahead of her, and John Ferguson who was in her graduating class.
“They both came to Kauai,” Capertina said. “I went the other way, opening eight major hotels in eight years, including my stop at the Princeville Resort in 1993 where we were actually living in the hotel because of the hurricane damage around the island.”
