{"id":25954,"date":"2024-08-26T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-26T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/farmers-market-shelby-shakes-turns-brewers-spent-grain-into-granola\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T05:30:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:30:46","slug":"farmers-market-shelby-shakes-turns-brewers-spent-grain-into-granola","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/farmers-market-shelby-shakes-turns-brewers-spent-grain-into-granola\/","title":{"rendered":"Farmers Market: Shelby Shakes turns brewer\u2019s spent grain into granola"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Shelby
Shelby Kohn\u2019s Shelby Shakes uses brewer\u2019s spent grain, a waste product of the beer-brewing process, to make granola. (Nick Gonzales\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Nick Gonzales<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

One of the first steps in the process of brewing beer involves mixing cracked malt grains, such as barley, with hot water to create wort, a liquid rich in sugars. The liquid wort is separated from the rest of the solid malt and, with the help of hops and yeast, becomes beer.<\/p>\n

But what happens to the solid grains?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt goes to waste most times,\u201d said Shelby Kohn, founder of Shelby Shakes. \u201cSometimes if it sits out for a long time, it\u2019s still good for animal feed. But, just like any other food, as long as you refrigerate it after they soak it, it is a wonderful human food.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kohn, who has a passion for sustainability and food-waste reduction, upcycles brewer\u2019s spent grain \u2013 a byproduct of the brewing process \u2013 into granola.<\/p>\n

Shelby Shakes currently makes four flavors of granola, she said. These include Cinnamon Swing, a cinnamon-vanilla-honey mix; a gluten free version of Cinnamon Swing; Cocoa Calypso, a dark chocolate and cocoa powder-infused mix with nuts; and Cha Cha Chai, a seven-spice chai blend.<\/p>\n

Kohn said her granola is high in protein and fiber. The spent grain also has a low glycemic index because \u201cthat\u2019s what they\u2019re soaking it for \u2013 to get the sugar,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Another way Kohn upcycles would-be food waste is by using aquafaba, the water in which chickpeas have been cooked, from Laura Nunemaker\u2019s Love Tempeh, another vendor at the Durango Farmers Market.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019ll save it for me in the fridge after she cooks it, and I\u2019ll also use that as an oil replacement,\u201d Kohn said.<\/p>\n

Kohn originally just made normal granola for herself to take on adventures with friends, and then she got creative with it over time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very picky and I like things a specific way, and so I tried making my own with the exact things that I want in it,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd then it evolved into using upcycled ingredients to marry my two passions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kohn said she lives near Steamworks Brewing Co.<\/a> and frequently noticed the barrels of spent grain the brewery would set out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was always thinking, what are they doing with that?\u201d she said. \u201cIs it just getting thrown away? Can I use it? So I would go back there with, like, 10 plastic bags and scoop it in and take it home and just experiment for myself. Once I thought I had a good product, they formalized the process a little. I have a special bin I give them, they fill it up, keep it in the fridge for me, and I pick it up every week.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of the spent grain used by Shelby Shakes \u2013 which came together in November 2023 \u2013 currently comes from Steamworks.<\/p>\n

Kohn said her business has a number of deals focused on waste reduction.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do all sorts of things, like if you bring your own jar, you get a dollar off,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

ngonzales@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

is on a mission to reduce food waste<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[431,1934,438,439,28,2896],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-25954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-business-general","tag-farmers-market","tag-food","tag-food-drink","tag-headlines","tag-steamworks-brewing-co"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25954"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79169,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25954\/revisions\/79169"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25954"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=25954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}