Should you’ve spent any time eating in Mexico Metropolis just lately, you could have observed spirulina cropping up on menus in every part from the same old smoothies to extra conventional dishes corresponding to tortillas and tlayudas (a crisp tortilla base with refried beans and different toppings). However do not assume that is some image of encroaching hipster well being meals globalisation: in reality, centuries earlier than it was deemed a “superfood”, the vibrantly colored cyanobacteria (or blue-green algae) – which grows primarily in heat alkaline lakes, ponds and rivers within the tropics and subtropics – was a pre-Hispanic dietary staple.
Even with out trendy science, the Mexica might recognise the nutrient density
The Mexica – or Aztecs, as they have been later identified – harvested the protein-rich substance from the floor of Lake Texcoco, an expansive physique of water in central Mexico that was later largely drained by the Spanish to make method for the development of Mexico Metropolis. Right here, the waters exhibited the proper stability of salinity and alkalinity for spirulina to flourish. The Mexica referred to as the foodstuff tecuitlatl, a Nahuatl phrase that roughly interprets to “rock excrement”, although they held it in decidedly larger esteem than its identify suggests.
“Oral traditions say that the Mexica couriers and runners in historic Tenochtitlan would eat dried spirulina muffins with corn, tortillas, beans, chillies or mole as gas for long-distance journey,” mentioned Denise Vallejo, an indigenous first-generation Xicana chef who runs the vegan Los Angeles pop-up Alchemy Organica.
Even with out trendy science, the Mexica might recognise the nutrient density that has made spirulina such a favorite as we speak. It boasts about 60-70% protein by weight and has important amino acids and plenty of nutritional vitamins and minerals, particularly iron, manganese and B nutritional vitamins, in keeping with the Encyclopedia of Dietary Dietary supplements. It is so wholesome and comparatively straightforward to develop, in reality, that experts think it could be a potential food source for future Mars colonies.
After all, to the arrival Spanish conquistadors within the 16th Century, it principally simply seemed odd. Bernal Díaz del Castillo wrote in his 1568 memoir about “a species of bread product of a sort of mud or slime collected from the floor of the lake, and eaten in that kind, and has an identical style to our cheese.” And Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún included illustrations of spirulina harvesting in his 16th-Century ethnographic research, the Florentine Codex.
“After the Spanish invasion, most of its consumption declined with the draining of the lakes within the Valley of Mexico,” Vallejo mentioned. “And lots of the Spanish did not take pleasure in its ‘tacky’ or ‘slimy’ properties. Information of its consumption was misplaced for a very long time.”
The Western world rediscovered the nutritious ingredient within the 1940s, when a French phycologist (a scientist who research algae) observed the Kanembu individuals alongside Africa’s Lake Chad harvesting spirulina and turning it into sun-dried muffins referred to as dihé. Nevertheless it did not make its grand return to Mexico till a contented accident within the 1960s, when the house owners of Sosa Texcoco – which produced sodium carbonate and calcium chloride in a big snail-shaped pond on the remnants of Lake Texcoco – observed a inexperienced substance mucking up the works. They reached out to French researchers, who concluded that it was the identical organism that had been nourishing the Kanembu for generations. Slightly than attempt to eradicate the cyanobacteria, Sosa Texcoco acknowledged its worth, inspired its development and opened the world’s first industrial spirulina firm, Spirulina Mexicana.
Whereas Spirulina Mexicana has since closed, a micro-farm on the outskirts of San Miguel de Allende referred to as Spirulina Viva is continuous the traditional custom. Since 2010, American expat Katie Kohlstedt and her San Luis Potosí-born husband, Francisco Portillo, have grown contemporary spirulina that most likely tastes remarkably much like what the Mexica harvested centuries in the past. “We’re actually proud to develop it right here,” she mentioned. “We did not need to invent one thing new or carry one thing from some other place.”
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Whereas many individuals could also be acquainted with spirulina in its dehydrated powdered kind, Spirulina Viva sells the inexperienced stuff uncooked and frozen, which imparts a way more delicate flavour. “Contemporary spirulina needs to be creamy like a spreadable cheese,” Kohlstedt mentioned. “Should you closed your eyes, you would possibly suppose you have been consuming a cross between an avocado and spinach.” She famous that if you happen to consider spirulina as fishy or an acquired style, chances are high you have been shopping for a lesser-quality product – and even one which makes use of floor fish bones to supply the phosphorus the spirulina must develop.
Kohlstedt and Portillo lead spirulina-growing workshops and have welcomed future farmers from as distant as Australia and Argentina. “It is gardening mixed with chemistry,” Kohlstedt mentioned of the method. However for a lot of shoppers, the completed product nonetheless stays a little bit of a thriller. “If I learn yet one more article that mentioned spirulina is grown within the ocean or [that shows] an image of seaweed, I am simply going to scream,” she mentioned, with amusing. “My different two least favorite phrases are ‘pond scum’. I believe that is actually offensive really!”
If I learn yet one more article that mentioned spirulina is grown within the ocean or [that shows] an image of seaweed, I am simply going to scream
Kohlstedt recommends consuming spirulina as merely as attainable, stirred into heat miso soup or bone broth, blended right into a smoothie, unfold on bread or blended into guacamole with additional lime juice, as a result of vitamin C has been proven to assist iron absorption. “You are going to really feel such as you simply ate Popeye’s lunch,” she mentioned.
In Mexico Metropolis, cooks are getting much more inventive with the ingredient. You would possibly discover spirulina dusting a tlayuda topped with avocado and escamoles (ant larvae) at Balcón del Zócalo; brightening a superfood tortilla at Cintli Tortilleria; including a verdant punch to the smoothie bowls and cheesecakes at Vegamo; and even spiking cocktails on the pre-Hispanic-inspired Xaman Bar.
There, head bartender Kenneth Rodrigez has integrated spirulina into numerous drinks, together with a gin-based cocktail with Mexican lime and asparagus liqueur. “I exploit it when any person would not like egg whites or [in drinks for] vegan individuals, as a result of spirulina has protein and we will get attention-grabbing textures,” Rodrigez mentioned, “to not point out the unbelievable color and the dietary parts that it supplies.”
He describes the style notes as “inexperienced, natural and clorofila (chlorophyll),” and mentioned that “it may be used to boost different flavours, as a result of it has a number of minerals, like an alternate for salt.”
Throughout the border in Mexican American communities, utilizing spirulina has meant establishing a direct reference to a pre-Hispanic previous. At San Antonio’s creative Mexican restaurant Mixtli, for example, cooks Rico Torres and Diego Galicia featured spirulina on a particular menu impressed by the Spanish conquest, they usually participated in a collaborative Día de los Muertos dinner at New York’s JamesBeard House, the place one of many hors d’oeuvres was a smoked spirulina yogurt with trout roe and radishes.
At Alchemy Organica, Vallejo incorporates spirulina powder right into a pineapple agua fresca (a Mexican drink made with water, sugar and pureed fruits, seeds, flowers or grains for flavour) with lime and chia seeds. And he or she has even used it as “a pure meals colouring and dietary increase, together with cactus and spinach powders” to make vibrant inexperienced masa (dough made with corn that has been nixtamalized, or handled with an alkaline resolution), which she turns into vibrant tortillas and tamales. “I additionally use it as a flavour enhancer for a few of my seafood-inspired dishes, because it imparts a flavour very like seaweed,” she defined.
And when one in all her cooks started promoting contemporary spirulina at a farmer’s market, Vallejo took to easily scooping spoonfuls into her drinks. “It offers you power such as you’d count on from a cup of espresso!” she mentioned.
In a way, these cooks are tapping into one thing a lot deeper than merely style or diet. Vallejo, who research curanderismo (folks medication), mentioned that spirulina is commonly seen as a detoxifier to organize for rituals, spells and “visionary plant ceremonies”. And Kohlstedt has equally heard concerning the ingredient’s mystical connections, which draw on the similarities between spirulina’s helical form and our personal constructing blocks as people: “Somebody informed me that the rationale it is referred to as ‘spirulina’ has to do with its spiral kind, however that it additionally has to do with our DNA and the way there’s something actually primary and religious about how we relate to vegetation [and cyanobacteria].”
“So lots of the ‘superfoods’ loved as we speak have a wealthy historical past in Mesoamerica: chia, amaranth, cacao, avocado, cactus,” Vallejo famous. “I believe the present decolonising motion in Xicanx, Central American and different Spanish-speaking communities helps us to rediscover and keep in mind our ancestral foodways. We get to take again our meals and our plant knowledge. The extra we eat them, the extra we awaken that DNA and that historical past.”
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