The Secret of Icefell Kafay

Between the shore area shallows and the abyssal deeps of the heart of Icefell Bay, there are vast regions of sea floor covered by forests of Coldwater Kelp. This kelp grows in fronds that can be two hundred feet tall - sea depth permitting. This kelp is harvested by boatmen from Icefell and the nearby villages employing cutter nets, followed by a few more boats that collect the floating, cut fronds.

Once ashore, the fronds are laid out on the beaches to be dried by the sun. After three days of drying, the fronds are chopped into fine pieces and pressed into brick molds. The bricks are then stacked loosely in covered sheds and allowed to finish drying. This part of the process takes between 2 and 6 weeks, depending on the dampness of the weather. Because of a reliance on the warming sun, the harvest is limited to about four or five months of the year around the First Turning Holiday.

If kept dry, the finished bricks can be stored for use as a general fuel source almost indefinitely. The annual harvest, coupled with the annual lumber harvest from the nearby forests, is usually more than sufficient for the general heating and cooking fuel needs of the city. But the Roasters have found that they need "fresh" made bricks. Those stored for more than a season do not impart the same flavors to the Kafay product. This is why the Roasters are legally entitled to the first choice of each season's new kelp bricks.

According to the Annals of the Roastmasters' Guild, the first use of dried kelp bricks as roasting fuel occurred during a particularly good harvest year when one roaster decided to save a few coins by burning the cheaper dried kelp blocks harvested by the sea farmers instead of contracting for large quantities of wood. The resulting pits - and the Kafay beverage brewed from them - took on a unique flavor. Most thought of this flavor as "fruitier" and attributed it to something in the trees themselves, but it was in fact the unique vegetal flavors and aromas of the kelp itself. Kelp is a common food source in Icefell as well, but the food products are quite salty - salty enough to mask the vegetal flavors of the kelp. Thus, most Folk never drew a parallel between kelp flavor and the Kafay product.

Dried kelp is a commonly used fuel in the Icefell region; it is used in private homes to fuel ovens, where it is a much more efficient and uniform fuel source than wood or charcoal. In some circumstances, it is also burned in home hearths to provide warmth in the winter, but most Folk prefer the pleasing glow of wood fires for this purpose.

The members of the Roastmaster's Guild in Icefell Bay are given first access to the dried kelp bricks prepared each year. The timing is perfect for the Kafay industry because the new bricks are ready at just the same time as the first Kafay cherries are ready for harvest. Once the harvest is complete, the remaining kelp bricks are made available to the general population of Icefell for personal use.