Spirulina
"Though it does taste like pond scum, Spirulina has some great health-boosting qualities" Wellness Mama
Aldi was promoting various 'health food' powders when we went there yesterday and one of them was a green powder called spirulina. I recognised the names of the others - kale, pomegranate, hemp seeds but although I have noticed spirulina here and there I had no idea what it was. So I thought I would take this opportunity to look into it.
And I found that it's a blue-green algae - which I understood to be one of the curses of the modern world - killing waterways and the fish in them all over the world. If you want the scientific rundown then go to Wikipedia which is sort of science for the masses. I'm sure there are even more learned articles if you care to look. Scientifically speaking it seems there has been a bit of change on its classification and I actually think, if I understood correctly, that technically it is no longer really spirulina but the name has stuck. Technically it is a cyanobacteria of which there are two species - Arthrospira platensis and Arthrospira maxima, the first of these being the one we are interested in (I think).
These are three pictures of spirulina. The one in the middle is the microscopic view and the other two are supposedly what it looks like - so I am confused. The one on the right looks more like seaweed to me and the one on the left looks like pond scum - which the article in Wellness Mama described it as. (Also a good, slightly more readable summary by the way.) And I suspect that it is the left one that is the correct one rather than the one on the right. Or maybe that is the difference between the two species. The picture at the top of the page would certainly seem to imply that it comes from some frondy kind of plant - which certainly is more photogenic. But algae doesn't have fronds does it? It's a scummy thing surely. And here is a picture of a commercial spirulina farm - where it definitely looks scummy.
It grows in the tropics - as it need heat and moisture, and as you can see, is now cultivated on a large scale in a large number of very different countries as it is being investigated as a nutritional supplement for the starving. And also, commercially, for the health freaks amongst us. Sorry - I should say health conscious. But be wary of contaminants that can get into the water.
Way, way back though the natives of South America used it. They dried it and made it into sort of cakes - as did the Africans around Lake Chad. And now today you can buy vegan energy bars with spirulina and sesame!
Mostly though, it is used a dietary supplement in powder or pill form. Though be warned as Wellness Mama says that not only does it look like pond scum but it tastes like it too - hence the pills - which look pretty large and forbidding looking to me. Nevertheless the promoters say you can have it in smoothies, soup, and yoghurt. Me - I am not attracted. And moreover it is pretty expensive. A 100g packet of the powder will set you back $13-$16 in Coles and Woolworths. Coles sells a smoothie, but Woolworths seems to only have the powders and the tablets. Nature's Way seems to have cornered the market here as far as that is concerned.
So why should you eat it at all? Well it is one of those superfoods. Some say the superfood and if it will help feed the world in the future I'm all for it. It has all the proteins, thiamin, calcium and iron. Of course people say it cures just about everything and even makes you slim. I suspect they are still testing that. But there are dangers - don't give it to children, and it has been shown to be dangerous for those with PKU (fairly rare), those on blood coagulating medicines, those with auto immune diseases as well as the pregnant and nursing mothers. So be careful.
It is also used to feed chickens and in aquaculture and also cows and pigs. Improves the milk of cows apparently.
I know I'm a bit dismissive of all these superfoods and this one looks and probably tastes particularly unattractive, but apparently it does have undeniable benefits and so if your doctor ever prescribes it - take it - and in the future who knows - it may feed the world.
