Kelp on Cape Cod: A Chatham company expands into regional craft markets

Yahoo

22-05-2025

Three Cape Cod businessmen are finding out what kelp — seaweed to its friends — can do for them.
Richard Curtiss, Carl Douglass, and Jamie Bassett hope a 50-acre "plot" of ocean off Harding Beach in Chatham will yield enough to generate a lot of green.
The three men started Chatham Kelp in 2018, and while the business has had its ups and downs, the men believe they are onto something.
Writing for the news website Civil Eats in 2024, Alexandra Talty, a Pulitzer Center journalist, said one report estimated the value of the edible seaweed industry to be $1.87 billion in the U.S. Two million pounds of kelp were harvested from U.S. waters during the 2022-2023 season, and experts predict that number will grow.
So far, Chatham Kelp has partnered with several companies to craft kelp-inspired products: Craic Sauce in Lowell (Kelpie hot sauce), Atlantic Soap Company in Falmouth (lip balm and soap), Hog Island Beer Company (Chatham Kelp Stout), and Little Bay Beard Supply Company (beard balm).
And most recently, High Limb Cider in Plymouth came out with 'In the Weeds,' a hard seltzer made with Chatham kelp and watermelon.
'We're really excited about this one,' Curtiss said in an interview on May 7. 'It tastes almost like a Jolly Rancher! Not too carbonated. A great summer drink.'
Chatham Kelp began working with High Limb Cider about six months ago, Curtiss said. They plan to sell the hard seltzer in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Hampshire, Maine, and North and South Carolina. In the works are Texas, Colorado, California, and Florida.
It took years to get permits from the town, state, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, state Division of Marine Fisheries and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association to grow sugar kelp in Chatham waters, Curtiss said. Finally, they received permits for 350 200-foot grow lines. The horizontal lines are anchored at each end, held up with buoys, and lie six to eight feet beneath the surface of the water.
Kelp spores attached to those lines are provided by GreenWave, a nonprofit whose goals include supporting farmers, planting regenerative ocean crops for economic gain and climate resiliency.
Sugar kelp is a winter crop in the New England area. Lines are laid in November or December and harvested around April. Curtiss said they get about six to 10 pounds of kelp per foot. Kelp is dried in fields for agricultural products like fertilizer, and in greenhouses for food-grade products.
Kelp, generally, is used in salads, smoothies and chips. It can be made into textiles, packaging, biofuels, and fertilizer. Kelp absorbs carbon dioxide and removes nitrogen from the water columns, according to researchers. One company, Sway, makes packaging and outdoor gear out of seaweed. Another, Keel Labs, makes a bio-based fiber from seaweed for the textile industry.
Unfortunately, kelp farming hasn't done particularly well on the Cape, according to Joshua Reitsma, a marine program specialist who holds a joint position with the Cape Cod Cooperative Extension Service and WHOI Sea Grant. He's been researching kelp for the last seven years.
'It's been tough in Massachusetts,' he said in a May 6 interview. 'Maine is doing better. We're trying to figure out why. Maine has cooler waters with nutrient-rich big tides. We have a lot of estuary type environments; they have a rocky shoreline.'
But kelp has been found to remove excess nitrogen, and it is being studied for use on the Cape. Reitsma has been working with sites in Falmouth Harbor and Popponesset Bay in particular.
Kelp is a regenerative crop that sequesters carbon, reduces ocean acidification and could save our seas, according to Talty. She estimates that about $380 million has been invested in the industry since 2017.
Atlantic Soap Company owner Caroline Laye has been working with Chatham Kelp since 2020. Her Chatham Kelp Beauty Bar is made with a blend of dried, ground kelp, seaweed extract, a blend of oils and filtered sea water. The bar is one of her best sellers, she said in an interview May 9.
'People love it,' she said. 'They like that it's from Chatham and that it's a great bar of soap.'
Curtiss reached out to Jeremy Quaglia, owner of High Limb Cider, who was intrigued by the idea of making a beverage using kelp. The men decided to create a hard seltzer. After months of trial and error with kelp and watermelon puree, In the Weeds, was introduced. Quaglia is getting the word out about the new product through his distributors in seven states.
Brian Ruhlmann, owner of Craic Sauce in Lowell, created Kelpie hot sauce after a persuasive presentation by Bassett. Ruhlmann made a sauce using a mixture of sugar kelp and fermented peppers. This year he is tweaking the recipe by using different peppers and aging the product in a whiskey barrel. The sauce is being sold at outlets throughout the Cape, including Chatham Squire and Three Fins Coffee Roasters, he said in a May 9 interview.
"We're sitting tight on the expansion of our farm," Curtiss said. "We're waiting for the market to come."
Denise Coffey writes about business, tourism and issues impacting the Cape's residents and visitors. Contact her at [e-mail] .
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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Can kelp farming thrive on Cape Cod? Chatham Kelp is hanging in there