Hope Merritt’s Gimbal Botanical’s won the 2018 contest. In 2019 there will be two $1,500 prizes up for grabs. Merritt’s business focuses on local plants — including algae. “Don’t turn your nose up at seaweed,” she writes in her blog.(Gimbal Botanicals image)

Charles Bingham, with the Sitka Local Foods Network, and Hope Merritt, 2018 winner of the “Sitka Food Business Innovation” contest, discuss the 2019 event. Merritt founded Gimbal Botanicals, which supplies teas and other products made from the terrestrial and maritime plants of Southeast Alaska. The deadline to enter is Friday, April 5, 2019. Find more information about the contest on the Sitka Local Foods Network website.

Downloadable audio.