Roasted Barley. Some beers can’t be made without it. But now you might find you don’t want to make a batch of tomato salsa without it, either.
Roasted Barley does, of course, have an intense bitter and dryness to it. But Briess Roasted Barley also has a unique, appealing flavor…coffee-like but rather hard to describe. Many brewing customers tell us how much they like it, and I’ve kept it in my kitchen ingredient toolkit for years. But with its thick husk and intense flavor, it needed a pretty specific application. Salsa is one I’ve discovered so far—mostly for increased eye appeal but also a touch of flavor.
Stir Preground Briess Roasted Barley directly into the salsa at room temperature. Microwave or cook on the stove for two minutes until boiling to develop color and soften bits. Cool and serve. The soluble color from the roasted barley develops a deep, rich, red color in the salsa, giving the impression of a deep-roast or fire-roasted ingredients. The bits mimic the appearance of heavily roasted pieces and do not adversely affect the flavor. You don’t need much, about 1% by weight.
This Father’s Day would be a nice time to treat your brewing guy to a batch of this. If you can only get your hands on whole kernel Briess Roasted Barley, just give it a short grind in your blender or coffee bean grinder first. I hope you enjoy it!