Weekend showcase aims to attract waves of kelp connoisseurs

Entrepreneur Darron Hill will be one of the vendors promoting kelp-based products at an event being held this weekend at the Halifax Brewery Market.

Hill, originally from Digby, N.S., said he has been harvesting kelp for the last 30 years. 

His company, Scotia Kelp, extracts the nutrients from the plant that contains high levels of organic iodine to make products for people, pets and plants.

Speaking to CBC Radio's Information Morning Nova Scotia, Hill said his passion for kelp and the products that can be made from it started in childhood.

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 controlled, and eventually healed, his condition.

"So, I'm very passionate about sharing those benefits with other people with similar health ailments," Hill said.

"We're really looking forward to educating and promoting public awareness on the benefits, especially here in Atlantic Canada."

Hill said he specializes in oarweed but is branching out into sugar kelp, which reproduces better for farming, with help from the Ecology Action Centre.

Economic opportunity

Anika Riopel of the EAC said it has a kelp program with an experimental farm in Mahone Bay, N.S. Its role is to support small businesses growing kelp and providing them with help in creating kelp products.

"We really think this is an amazing economic opportunity for Nova Scotia and we're really excited to help support folks as the sector takes off," Riopel said.

"It's very new in North America, but it's been happening for forever in other parts of the world."

Riopel said sugar kelp turns bright green when cooked and has a subtle taste.

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 Centre to put on the festival.

Although it's being called a kelp cook-off, she said it will be a showcase of different ways that kelp products can be used.

Hill said the waters off Nova Scotia are world renowned for scallops, lobsters and clams.

"Well, that also applies to our kelp products harvested here in our ocean," he said.

The kelp cook-off takes place Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.