Spirulina The Miracle Plant

Spirulina The Miracle Plant

By Jamuna Rangachari

April 2009

A tiny plant holds a miraculous promise of transforming your health.

All over the world are rediscovering the wonders of spirulina, a magic food is hailed as nature`s longest living healthy food.

Growing naturally in warm and highly alkaline lakes in subtropical areas, it provides nutrients such as s - amino acids, chelated minerals, pigmentations, rhamnose sugars [complex natural plant sugars>, trace elements, and enzymes.

Its main benefits are -

It is a highly digestible food algae, containing 60-70 per cent of protein,

It provides all the essential amino acids, quite uncommon among plant foods.

Helps to control stress, manage obesity, heart disease and arthritis, too.

Gives a lot of energy

Spirulina is naturally found in lakes and ponds high in alkaline content, otherwise it can be  cultivated in specially prepared water tanks.  One of the methods, advocated by Dr C V Seshadri, of India, is the following

Ingredients

Bio-gas slurry and 2-3 grams of sea salt or chemical medium (Potassium dihydrogen Phosphate, Cooking Soda and Sodium Chloride); and Pure Spirulina Culture. 

 Method

The three mud pots are buried upto their necks in the ground, filled with water mixed with the medium. Bio-gas slurry is the cheapest nutrient medium for spirulina culture.  A small quantity of pure spirulina is put into the medium. (In the initial stage, the nutrient medium has to be supplied to the producer as stock-solution for ready mixing). The medium has to be stirred 3 to 4 times a day as the spirulina can not grow in a stagnant medium. The pots have to be exposed to sunlight as the spirulina takes 3 to 4 days to mature. The mature spirulina (When the pale medium turns into dark green) can be harvested by a simple cloth-filtration. After washing the spirulina in fresh water (to remove the adhering chemicals), it can be directly mixed with the chapatti / dough, chutnies, noodles, dais, vegetables etc. (about 2% by weight). Spirulina can be preserved by drying it in the shade. It must be dried immediately to preserve its quality and value. 

The spirulina grown in 3 earthen pots of 35-40 litre capacity is sufficient to provide 2 grams per day (per person) high-quality spirulina powder to meet 100% vitamin A and 200% vitamin B-12 requirement, daily.

You may also get the product at Auroville in India or other nature food stores.

Discovery

The single-celled bluish-green water alga is believed to be the first form of plant life on earth and formed a part of man`s early diet. But its rising popularity in the last couple of decades can be traced to a French anthropologist who found, earlier this century, that a plankton from Lake Chad in North Africa was behind the remarkably good health of the Kanembi tribe living on the lakeside. He took it back home to study its composition. What was `dihe` to the Kanembis came to be known as spirulina, the word derived from the algae`s spirally twisted filament-like structure.

In sum

Essentially, one tablespoon of spirulina a day can eliminate iron-deficiency anaemia, the most common mineral deficiency and keep most lifestyle diseases at bay. So, what are we waiting for? Let us get this miracle plant into our lives