Legume of their own

When life gave the Bayles family lemons, they didn’t turn them into lemonade. Instead, they turned out chickpea snacks — bags of dry-roasted crunchy treats, produced through their fledgling Chic Naturals company, in a growing variety of flavors now selling in a growing number of stores across the nation.

The adventure began eight years ago when matriarch Joan Bayles was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. After a decision to drop animal protein from her diet, the lifelong cook began creating protein-rich vegetarian dishes, and one of her successes was roasted, seasoned chickpeas, or garbanzo beans, which are particularly high in protein.

The morsels became a favorite of the entire family, not just part of Bayles’ special diet. In fact, when visitors tried them, they deemed the snack sales-worthy — in between all the crunching and munching.

Chic Naturals earned accolades at the Hawaii Food Manufacturers Association’s inaugural TASTE Awards in June, winning the Start Up Manufacturer of the Year award via votes by association members.

Roasted chickpeas have been prepared across the globe for generations. The key to Chic Naturals’ product is slow roasting, which produces a snack with a specific level of crunch and maximum nutritional value, says Joan Bayles’ son, Shaun Bayles. But as the company has grown, maintaining those qualities has not been easy.

"Originally, we made these in our home oven. Now we produce thousands of bags a month. Every time we add new equipment or scale up — from one tray to four trays to 20 trays or using three ovens — we’ve got to do test batches all over again. We must tweak times and temperatures," said Bayles. "The texture we like offers a good crunch, similar to a corn nut. This is a healthy alternative to the empty calories of a corn nut, which is fried. Chickpeas have protein, lots of fiber, aminos, minerals."

The company uses untreated chickpeas from Washington state; "untreated" means they are produced with organic practices but not certified organic.

Bayles said certain varieties of the bean, or the wrong roasting technique, lead to a product that leaves a powdery residue in the mouth. But he won’t divulge the details of their roasting process.

"You can’t patent a process," he said.

"We’ve tasted almost every competitor’s product. There are now eight of us nationwide. We’re 95 percent confident no one else in the industry is using our technique."

In 2011 the Bayleses, including Joan and sons Shaun and Anthony, and Shaun’s fiancee, Vendula Mato­cha, moved from Hono­lulu to Maui to try their hand at commercial production. They rented a tiny 800-square-foot incubator kitchen in Lahaina where they could ensure the facility would remain a dedicated gluten-free production space.

Fueled by growing demand, the company just moved into a 2,700-square-foot kitchen in May 2013.

The snack comes in five flavors — Spicy Barbeque, Hawaiian Sea Salt and Herbs, Maui Mocha, Chocolate Crunch and Sweet Citrus — with seven more soon to be added. The company also produces chickpea "crumbs," a gluten-free substitute for breadcrumbs, and is working on a nutrition bar.

Each seasoning is created by Joan Bayles, and Shaun Bayles calls his mother a "mad scientist." "She literally throws stuff together" based on her own palate, her cooking experience and some research. Most recipes take three to six months to develop, though others require more time. It’s a process of trial and error that entails many tastings by family members.

But she still isn’t accustomed to documenting her creations.

"One of the best recipes she came up with was for the nutrition bar, but she doesn’t like recipes so she didn’t write it down," said Bayles. "We’ve been trying and trying, but we cannot replicate it."

Most flavors begin with standard combinations of ingredients. Sweet flavors such as Sweet Citrus, Maui Mocha and a new one called Crystallized Ginger, for instance, begin with a mix of cinnamon and maple syrup. For savory flavors with dry seasonings, beans are first coated with olive oil to help the seasonings adhere.

Flavors originate for all sorts of reasons. The mocha flavor — coffee and chocolate — came out of Joan Bayles’ need to stay awake during the long hours of recipe development. Chocolate Crunch, resembling a chocolate cluster with its crushed chickpeas rolled through dark chocolate, came at the suggestion of a customer who sought an alternative to candy. Tuscan Herb, comprising sage, oregano and rosemary, with a dash of kosher salt, is Chic Naturals’ low-sodium offering.

In 2012, Chic Naturals dipped its toe into the market by taking the snacks to a Maui farmers market, where they promptly sold out.

After repeated success at a few more markets, the Bayleses got their big break. Shaun Bayles’ acupuncturist friend shared the snack with a client: Pablo Gonzalez, owner of Lani­kai Juice.

"I thought, wow, these are really good," said Gonzalez. "But it was not about taste. It was about a new product that was innovative and unique — plus it tasted good."

The fact that the product was high-protein and vegetarian made it something he wanted in his stores. "It was a perfect fit," Gonzalez said.

"That was our lucky break," said Shaun Bayles. "Nobody wants to be the first one to try an unproven product. The fact that he had three stores gave us legitimacy."

The snacks are now on shelves from local mom-and-pops to natural-food stores, Foodland, ABC Stores, commissaries and national chains such as TJ Maxx and Whole Foods Market.

At Down to Earth Organic and Natural markets, buyer Peter Van Osdol said Chic Naturals drew his attention because it is a local, all-natural product.

"I brought in all five flavors and they sold immediately, and repeat sales were tremendous," he said.

At Kokua Market, bulk manager Jonathan Kema purchases Chic Naturals’ unseasoned roasted peas to make trail mixes sold in bulk bins. "They have a really killer texture, and the nutrition is killer as well," he said.

Cheryl Anderson, a Kokua manager and herself a celiac patient, says the flavored versions are not just popular, but also a viable option for the most sensitive of customers.

"One of the things that makes it hard for celiacs is cross-contamination. If a product is opened up and left exposed, it isn’t gluten-free anymore because of the gluten in the environment. These snacks come in resealable packages," she said. "Also, they’re better than a lot of gluten-free snacks because the sugar is minimal. Some snacks are so loaded with sugar, there are no nutrients at all."