Harvesting in Rain
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Hi everyone,
We're wondering: How bad is it (for the kelp quality) to harvest in rain?
If you spray the kelp down with seawater as it's coming aboard and sitting in the tote, does that help negate the impacts of freshwater?
If you're going to blanch it afterwards, is it still harmful to the kelp to be touched by rain?
@lindsay_olsen @sam_gar @ken_sparta @alf_pryor17 @nicholas_mangini
Thank you for any inputs!
Skye
@skye_steritz Hi Skye, Great question. From what I've heard & seen, the major concern with harvesting in the rain is that fresh water can sometimes cause the surface of the kelp to "blister", where small bubbles appear, which can impact the aesthetic of the kelp, especially if it's being sold fresh. If you're blanching the kelp this may not be as much of a concern, because it may be less obvious. I think ways to mitigate the concern would be to cover your bags so that the kelp isn't in prolonged exposure to fresh water. A salt-water rinse / soak as you're harvesting also wouldn't hurt.
While general advice is to avoid the rain, sometimes you can't help it, and it's definitely preferable to harvest in the rain vs. leaving your kelp in too long and risking biofouling.
@skye_steritz I think there is many factors to take into account. Speed of harvest, how exposed the kelp will be and fir how long, amount if rain falling. In a perfect world you don’t rinse it with fresh water at all as it changes a lot as far as the color goes and begins to blister a little. Usually for ya that was only the very top exposed layer in totes. We harvest into bags that then go into the water so we have not had to many issues. For purée product I do t think it would matter but it will likely affect dry or whole leaf in sone way. Hope that helps every situation is different so here’s to bright sunshine harvest days. Sorry for delay busy week
@skye_steritz I second everything @lindsay_olsen and @nicholas_mangini said, and will add that in addition to the 'blistering' affect, my understanding is that freshwater does start a process of degradation and leaching of nutrients. We're doing some studies this month to find out more about which nutrients and to what degree, but you are onto something with your question about blanching -- that is, blanching is a process wherein nutrients leach out anyway, so I wouldn't worry as much about fresh water contact on the boat *provided* that you can get it processed relatively quickly (because the degradation process will have begun earlier, so you have a shorter quality window).