Robert Batulayan and Kristy Mollena are all about family, and their Sandy-based company, Koa Roots, reflects their strong family bonds.
As a small business, they rely on family members in Oregon and visiting family members from Hawaii to help with the small-batch production of their fruit butters and smoked brown butters.
“Koa Roots started because we wanted to share our passion for food and to show respect to the places we call home, Hawaii and the Pacific Northwest,” says Kristy. “The process for all our products are a labor of love, done by hand in small batches, to express who we are and where we come from. Koa Roots truly embodies who we are, and our roots are in every one of our products.”
Koa Roots makes four plant-based fruit butters: Passion Fruit, Guava, Blueberry and Marionberry. These fruit butters don’t solidify, making them ideal as a base for cocktails, mocktails, lemonades, glazes, marinades and salad dressings. They’re also great as a topping for toast, bagels, waffles and pancakes. Mix them into yogurt, baked goods and pastries or drizzle atop ice cream.
On the savory side, Koa Roots smoked brown butters are like ghee, or clarified butter, but they are cooked a bit longer to create a more toasty, nutty flavor. All the spices included are applewood smoked, elevating the butter flavors.
Their brown butter varieties include Hawaiian Sea Salt, Chili, Garlic & Onion, and Sage & Thyme. Treat them as a flavorful base in your cooking, baking or even to finish a dish. Or combine both a fruit butter and a smoked brown butter for incredible flavor, as do Robert and Kristy to make their party-perfect Sweet & Spicy Passion Fruit Butter-Glazed Wings.
Find Koa Roots fruit butters and smoked brown butters at your Market of Choice.
“Our experience with Market of Choice has been amazing,” Kristy says. “The amount of support MOC and their wonderful employees have shown to encourage the success of our small business has been such a blessing.”
