diff --git a/lib/httparrot.ex b/lib/httparrot.ex
index f93a9b6..3892653 100644
--- a/lib/httparrot.ex
+++ b/lib/httparrot.ex
@@ -26,16 +26,20 @@ defmodule HTTParrot do
              {'/base64/:value', HTTParrot.Base64Handler, []} ] }
     ])
     {:ok, http_port} = :application.get_env(:httparrot, :http_port)
-    {:ok, https_port} = :application.get_env(:httparrot, :https_port)
+    ssl = :application.get_env(:httparrot, :ssl, false)
     {:ok, _} = :cowboy.start_http(:http, 100, [port: http_port],
                                   [env: [dispatch: dispatch], onresponse: &prettify_json/4])
 
-    priv_dir = :code.priv_dir(:httparrot)
-    {:ok, _} = :cowboy.start_https(:https, 100,
-      [port: https_port, cacertfile: priv_dir ++ '/ssl/server-ca.crt',
-       certfile: priv_dir ++ '/ssl/server.crt', keyfile: priv_dir ++ '/ssl/server.key'],
-      [env: [dispatch: dispatch], onresponse: &prettify_json/4])
-    IO.puts "Starting HTTParrot on port #{http_port} and SSL on #{https_port}"
+    if ssl do
+      {:ok, https_port} = :application.get_env(:httparrot, :https_port)
+      priv_dir = :code.priv_dir(:httparrot)
+      {:ok, _} = :cowboy.start_https(:https, 100,
+        [port: https_port, cacertfile: priv_dir ++ '/ssl/server-ca.crt',
+         certfile: priv_dir ++ '/ssl/server.crt', keyfile: priv_dir ++ '/ssl/server.key'],
+        [env: [dispatch: dispatch], onresponse: &prettify_json/4])
+        IO.puts "Starting HTTParrot on port #{https_port} (SSL)"
+    end
+    IO.puts "Starting HTTParrot on port #{http_port}"
     HTTParrot.Supervisor.start_link
   end
 
diff --git a/mix.exs b/mix.exs
index 10545da..74e9d6d 100644
--- a/mix.exs
+++ b/mix.exs
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ defmodule Httparrot.Mixfile do
                       :cowboy,
                       :jsex ],
       mod: { HTTParrot, [] },
-      env: [ http_port: 8080, https_port: 8433 ] ]
+      env: [ http_port: 8080, ssl: true, https_port: 8433 ] ]
   end
 
   defp deps(:dev) do