Spirulina Platensis

One of the more interesting things that I have grown in my garden is Spirulina Platensis.
Spirulina is not strictly a plant, it is a cyano-bacteria or blue-green algae. cyano-bacterias are among the earliest life forms on the planet. They are tiny spiral shaped lifeforms about a tenth of a millimetre long.


I grow Spiruline in a polytunnel in the warmer months of the year (April to November). It is grown in water that is highly akaline and slightly salty. Nettle tea is my preffered food to feed it with. Spiruline can grow up 1/3 of it´s biomass in one day. Spiruline starts to grow at 20 degrees celsius and at 37 it grows the fastest, but at 42 degrees c it starts to die off, so the basins have to be stirred regularly during the sunny part of the day.

Harvesting consists of filtering a certain amount out every day and then squeezing the moisture out until it becomes a thick paste. Spiruline can be eaten fresh, in smoothies or spread on bread instead of butter. It can also be dried to eat later. To make the dried Spiruline we make long spaghettis and dry them out.

Freshly squeezed spiruline.

I haven´t got any going this year, but I will get some shortly and start off a culture again, I will keep you updated.

 

I am only speaking about spirulina platensis, there are about 20 types of spiruline. The taste is difficult to describe. I think it tastes yummy. Some people find it disgusting and it makes them gag, hence it is often found in capsule form. When you mix fresh spiruline in smoothies or guacamole (delicious), the taste is not very marked. Dried, it tastes a bit salty, the less liquid that gets pressed out from the harvesting proccess, the more salty it is. So a test of quality is that it tastes less salty. Spiruline tastes a bit metallic, a bit like dried blood due to its high iron content. If you like algaes, you will like spiruline and it reminds me a bit of sea cucumber. Spiruline has a very high protein content that is easilly bio-assimilable. Dried spiruline has about 70% protein. Spiruline is a veritable superfood and can replace meat if you are vegetarian. The amino acids are very similar to ours and it has a lot of chlorophyl. Spiruline is very good for dogs and chickens too, we just add it to their feed. The dried spiruline,we just sprinkle a bit on our food or sometimes my wife mixes it in the salad dressing.

How I learned to grow Spiruline. Well basically, I got hold of 5 litres of live spiruline in its growing medium, and an instruction booklet. It was a steep learning curve and after 3 years, I knew pretty well all about growing spiruline, it is not very difficult, but there can sometimes be problems and knowing what is going on will teach you all about growing it.

 

Yes indeed Frank, it is not called a superfood for nothing. Here is what the dried spaghettis look like.