KELP WEEK STARTS TODAY AS RESTAURANTS SHOW THEIR SUPPORT

New England Kelp Harvest Week, a project started by the Sugar Kelp Collective in 2021, runs from April 20-30 this year. The group of kelp farmers and activists works with restaurants, bakeries and fish markets to create special dishes and menus that use the sea vegetable, which grows in winter and is harvested in the spring.

Across Connecticut, this means an opportunity for people to try dishes and cocktails made with kelp at restaurants, including two with James Beard Award-nominated chefs: Oyster Club and The Shipwright’s Daughter in Mystic.

For the people who support the state’s emerging kelp industry, though, this week represents an opportunity to get the word out about their work.

The Connecticut Sea Grant, for example, is a public service organization that is helping teach aquaculture farmers in the state how to safely grow and harvest seaweed as well as get permits required to grow the crop.

According to UConn Associate Extension Educator Anoushka Concepcion, a major focus of Connecticut Sea Grant is to teach state farmers how to produce brown macroalgae, which has some variations, including sugar kelp.

The industry faces economic challenges as well as logistical ones in Connecticut, Concepcion said, like moving fresh seaweed quickly due to limited storage and processing facilities.

“Seaweed is mostly water, it begins to decompose very quickly. And so that really limits access to markets as well,” Concepcion said. “The produce has a limited shelf life and has to be moved quickly to the final consumer.”