Weekend Showcase aims to attract waves of kelp connoisseurs
Entrepreneur Darron Hill will be one of several vendors promoting kelp-based products at an event held this weekend at the Halifax Brewery Market.
Originally from Digby, NS, Hill said he has been harvesting kelp for the past 30 years.
His company, Scotia Kelp, extracts the nutrients from the plant, which is high in organic iodine, to make products for people, pets, and plants.
In conversation with CBC Radios Information Morning Nova ScotiaHill said his passion for kelp and the products made from it began in childhood.
Information morning – NS7:22Halifax Brewery Market is hosting a cook-off of the best kelp-stuffed recipes
Local kelp sellers and growers want to turn the tide when it comes to attitudes about eating kelp. They would like to see the seaweed used more often in culinary arts, so they hold a kelp cooking contest. Information Morning’s Feleshia Chandler met with some of the organizers.
Hill said he suffered from severe psoriasis as a child and was constantly dealing with doctors and allergists.
He eventually found relief with iodine baths. He said they managed his condition and eventually cured it.
“So I’m very passionate about sharing those benefits with other people with similar health conditions,” Hill said.
“We’re really looking forward to raising public awareness of the benefits, especially here in Atlantic Canada.”
Hill said he specializes in rowwort but is branching out into sugar kelp, which reproduces better for agriculture, with help from the Ecology Action Center.
Economic opportunity
Anika Riopel of the EAC said it has a kelp program with an experimental farm in Mahone Bay, NS. Its role is to support small businesses that grow kelp and help them create kelp products.
“We really think this one tremendous economic opportunity for Nova Scotia and we are very excited to help support people as the industry takes off,” said Riopel.
“It’s very new in North America, but it’s been happening in other parts of the world for ages.”
Riopel said sugarweed turns bright green when cooked and has a subtle flavor.
Describing it as the “arugula of the ocean,” she said it can be pickled, used in salads, added to smoothies, and even used as a salt substitute.
Ash Scriven of the Halifax Brewery Farmers Market said organizers worked with the Scotia Kelp and the Ecology Action Center to put on the festival.
While it’s called a kelp cook-off, she said it will be a showcase of different ways kelp products can be used.
Hill said the waters off Nova Scotia are world famous for scallops, lobsters and clams.
“Well, so does our kelp products that are harvested right here in our ocean,” he said.
The kelp cook-off takes place on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m
