PHINEAS KELLY / COURTESY PHOTO Molokai resident Nancy Gove hopes to make a business, Hawaii Kai Salts, of extracting salt from the ocean near Kaunakakai Harbor.

Molokai venture
sees gold in salt

The entrepreneur hopes her
salt-making proves successful

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By Gary T. Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.com

Nancy Gove hopes the ocean water off Molokai is worth its salt in salt.

Gove, a resident of Molokai for 20 years, is embarking on a business venture to extract salt from the ocean near Kaunakakai Harbor.

Under a $70,000 federal grant, her business Hawaii Kai Salts is conducting a feasibility study that she hopes will help to develop a cottage industry for backyard entrepreneurs, farmers and Hawaiian homesteaders.

"I see it as an abundant renewable natural resource for Molokai," she said.

Gove said that unlike many commercial varieties of salt that are pure sodium chloride, the Molokai salt would contain a multitude of minerals, about 100 chemical elements by her calculation, including calcium, phosphorous and magnesium.

She said the color of the salt varies depending on the process used to crystallize it with some minerals. For instance, a certain clay produces a reddish color, and lava rock produces a black tone, she said.

Gove said most of the salt purchased in Hawaii is from California and lacks a wide variety of minerals.

COURTESY PHOTO The color of the Molokai salt varies depending on the process used to crystallize it. Minerals like clay will produce a reddish color; lava rock, a black color.

She plans to extract the salt naturally through solar-heat evaporation and develop it into a concentrated product through a sedimentation and filtration system.

"It's saltier tasting, so you end up using less, which is healthier," she said, "and it finishes sweet."

Gove said salt-making is not new on Molokai.

Near her business site in Kaunakakai are areas that once were salt ponds used by native Hawaiians.

Gove, a wood artist and furniture maker, said she has been making her own salt for years for her own consumption, and the project is an extension of her interests.

To make food-grade salt, the salt has to be extracted through a federally approved process that requires the building of an enclosed structure for salt pans.

She has applied for a $300,000 grant to continue the research and development aspect of the project, allowing work to continue through its third year.

Gove is also applying for a state permit to take ocean water off Kaunakakai from 200 yards offshore and pump it into holding tanks for filtration before going into enclosed salt pans.

She is thinking of eventually transporting the salt water to homestead sites where salt could be made through her established process.

Gove said she is looking forward to the time when production begins. "I'm hoping to get the community involved," she said.