Tidal Salt Is Exporting Pieces of Nova Scotia Around The World
ANTIGONISH–Salt. It’s a luxury almost as old as human civilization; one of the earliest commodities used for trade, and even currency. It’s a topic Colin Duggan, the co-founder of Tidal Salt in Antigonish, is well versed in.
Did you know that the word “salary” is derived from “salt?” It’s one of the many facets of salt Duggan can tell you about.
“Roman soldiers were paid in gold or in salt,” Duggan tells Huddle. “It’s something that is as old as human history. But we can try and do it a different way, or we can put our own Atlantic Canadian spin on it.”
Putting a Maritime spin on salt is exactly what Duggan and his wife, Audrey, are trying to do. Given that salt is so historic, he finds it ironic that Nova Scotia, a place surrounded by an endless supply of salt water, isn’t exporting tons of it around the world.
“I made some salt as a gift for Audrey back in that summer [of 2016],” recalls Duggan. “Then it seemed obvious to me- Nova Scotia has always been a mercantile centre for trade but we import a lot of things that we could make here.”
“The salt water is all around us. It’s not going anywhere.”
Since 2016, the Duggans have been taking salt out of the ocean the old-fashioned way: filling up buckets, filtering, boiling, drying, and packaging. It sounds simple when it’s laid out like that, but it’s a craft that takes a lot of practice.
“It is a complicated process, but it is something we can learn to do better and we can do more efficiently,” says Duggan.
The Duggans produce about 10 kilograms a month and sell it online and in retail outlets. Literal pieces of Nova Scotia are sent as far as Arizona, South Korea, and the United Kingdom.
Most of the business comes from home cooks and collectors. That’s right, there are people out there that collect salt from different corners of the world.
Duggan learned that firsthand when he sold his salt at the Seaport Farmers market years ago. Tourists coming off the cruise ships were glad to see him.
“They were coming to me saying ‘we’ve been waiting to see this’ because Halifax was the only place they would stop at that didn’t have sea salt,” says Duggan.
Now, Duggan has bigger hopes for the sea salt industry in Nova Scotia. He wants to see more people taking advantage of this renewable resource just sitting in our backyard and see it create jobs and opportunities.
Duggan is looking to ramp up production for Tidal Salt this summer. Staying true to the historic importance of salt, he is using a tried-and-true method right out of the middle ages–a salt brine tower.
“They use branches–you run the salt water over the branches. That slows things down enough that you get brine out of the bottom,” he explains.
Duggan jokes that the most modern thing about the tower is the nails he’ll be using to build it.
Sticking To Their Guns
Tidal Salt, being a small, niche, company, doesn’t have a huge social media following, but that didn’t stop them from going viral this past winter.
During the controversial truckers’ convoy to Ottawa, Duggan found out that one of his retail vendors was in the convoy to show support. The convoy, which faced criticism after radical hardliners and hate imagery became attached to it, didn’t sit well with the Duggans.
Tidal Salt decided to end its partnership with the vendor and explained its decision on social media. The first post was made on a Saturday and it didn’t take long for it to catch fire.
“By Sunday-Monday, the posts had taken off. A lot of the response was people saying they agreed with us,” recalls Duggan.
“A lot of other people were saying we’re anti-democratic, or I don’t love Canada. The tone of it really changed, so we ended up taking most of the posts down.”
Over a span of several weeks, Tidal Salt got review bombed on Facebook and the company even received threats. The Duggans decided to go quiet on social media when things became too heated. But they don’t regret their stance.
“I’m glad we took the stand…it hasn’t been easy for us; it’s been a weird couple of months. And I’m not going to keep working with someone who thinks the imagery and the things that happened [during the convoy] were okay or to be celebrated,” says Duggan.
“I don’t mind a fight. I don’t mind putting my foot down and saying ‘this is what I believe in.’”
Derek Montague is a Huddle reporter in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].