We spent the majority of August harvesting, processing, and driving a few thousand pounds of Alaskan Giant Kelp across the country for our kelp drying trials. We drove our frozen kelp across eight states, visited three different processing facilities and ran our kelp through several different dryers and dewatering machines. We had some successes and many failures, and we learned a ton along the way! Processing equipment and kelp species vary significantly, so it’s essential to test equipment specifically with our Alaskan Giant Kelp. This approach allows us to quickly iterate and identify any major problem areas as we validate potential processing systems.
We're still awaiting nutrient and other compositional testing data on the kelp that we processed, but one of our immediate learnings was that conduction is not a viable mode of drying for our specific type of kelp, especially in a batch system. When dried via conduction, the kelp had a tendency to stick to the walls of the drum and then create an insulating layer that prevented the rest of the batch from properly dehydrating.
Another big learning from our trials was that freezing and maintaining a cold chain for kelp is incredibly costly and logistically difficult! We had our hands full moving kelp through air cargo, picking it up and taking it to short term cold storage facilities, and timing the thawing process so that the kelp was in the right state to be dried at the right time. We now know without a doubt that drying, and not freezing, is the right stabilization process for us as we scale our business! |
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