If we let our imaginations wander back to prehistoric times, we may perceive tribes of hunters collecting flat masses of the gelatinous blue-green algae, then eating, raw or cooked, what the English would later term "star jelly" or "witches butter".  To enrich their diets, early hunters may also have consumed freshwater algae growing in larger masses or collected the scums of Spirulina platensis from the shores of warm alkaline lakes.

Some scientists have speculated that the manna of the wandering Israelites, which appeared miraculously on rocks following a devastating dry spell and was described as tasting "like wafers made with honey", may have been a form of dried, dormant Spirulina.

In approximately 900 A.D. the Mayans were a culture in the Yucatan Peninsula of Central America where the jungle environment was not well suited for agriculture.  It is now believed that artificially constructed ponds, probably for the growth of Spirulina, were interspersed among the cleared jungle fields.  Complex systems of waterways, perhaps to keep ponds floods, have been discovered.  Since the rainfall in the jungle is 70-90 inches a year, archaeologists theorize that the waterways were constructed for the maintenance of algae pools rather than for field irrigation.  Development of algae farms would explain how a Mayan population of two million was sustained in spite of discouraging agricultural conditions.

When the Spanish conquistadores invaded the Aztec empire of Mexico, they found the natives subsisting on maize, beans, squash, and a mysterious green scum that abounded on Lake Texcoco of the Teotihuacan Valley, where Mexico City stands today.  As recounted by the historian Furst, Fray Toribio de Benavente reached the Valley of Mexico in 1524, 3 years after the fall of the Aztecs.  He described the harvest of tecuitlatl: "There breeds upon the water of the lake of Mexico a kind of very fine mud and at a certain time of year, when it is thickest, the Indians collect it with a very fine-meshed net until their acales (canoes) are filled with it; on shore they make on the earth or the sand some very smooth beds, two or three brazas (3.4-5.1 m) wide and a little less in length, and they cast it down to dry, sufficient to make a case two dedos (3.6 m) thick. In a few days it dries to the thickness of a worn ducat and they slice this cake like wide bricks; the Indians eat much of it and enjoy it well, this product is traded by all the merchants of the land, as cheese is among us; those who share the Indians' condiments find it very savory, having a slightly salty flavor."

The Aztec civilization was notable for its sophistication, culture, complexity and large population.  But their achievements puzzle archaeologists to this day because domesticated animals were scarce, since cattle, sheep, horses, and other creatures were not available to the Aztec.  As human sacrifice and ritual cannibalism were also a feature of the later Aztec society, some anthropologists like to theorize that this was the major source of concentrated protein.  However, human flesh is notoriously devoid of many B vitamins and is a less than ideal source of nutrition.  The Aztec consumption of Spirulina, with its complete protein in a highly digestible form, would explain the vitality of the population that built enormous cities and the magnificent temples of Tenochtitlan, waged war across the Meso-American heartland, and nurtured a sophisticated culture of art, mathematics and philosophy.

When the Spanish came, they could not understand the passion of the Aztecs for their tecuitlatl, nor appreciated the technology of the "chinampas" - the floating gardens of Texcoco.  Since they never realized that the lowly green algae of the lake produced more protein than the land could ever hope to yield, the Spanish began an aggressive program of landfill and swamp reclamation in order to provide tillable land surface.  Today, most of the lake is gone, but it is ironic that one of the world's most productive modern Spirulina farms is found on the remnant shore of Texcoco.

Sosa Texcoco, the company that holds the concession for the production of caustic soda and soda ash from the remnants of Lake Texcoco, was aware of the existence of Spirulina during the 1960's.  They also knew that, as recently as a generation ago, some Mexican Indians who lived along the shores of the lake were still harvesting tecuitlatl.  When tests conducted by the Mexicans confirmed the French report that Spirulina has nearly the same high quality protein as whole eggs and is rich in vitamins and minerals, the Mexicans decided to produce tecuitlatl for commercial sale.

There are those who point out that much of the chlorophyll and other nutritive factors of the algae are lost by the hot sun and sand drying, and cooking.  As far back as 1921, Robert McCarrison, M.D., F.M. Pottenger, M.D., and D.G. Simonsen, Ph.D., demonstrated the destructive results when foods are processed at high temperatures.  More sobering still, they also showed the degeneration of primitive people who adopted civilized diets and demonstrated a correlation between societal decay and diet.

Identification of teuitlatl, however, did not come from Mexico but from Africa.  During the 1950's a world-wide interest in novel sources of protein to feed the growing human population led researchers to investigate possibilities of large-scale algaculture (i.e., the growing of algae as a commercial enterprise for human consumption).  In 1963, the French Petroleum Institute became interested in reports of a dried algae cake called dihe that was eaten among people along the shores of Lake Chad in central West Africa.

When the French were experimenting with Spirulina cultures under laboratory conditions, a Belgian independently discovered dihe and reported on the indigenous techniques of its production.  Jean Leonard, a civilian botanist who at the time was on a Belgian military expedition crossing the Sahara from the Atlantic to the Red Sea, became interested in the dihe cakes eaten by the Kanembu of Lake Chad and the blue-green algae from which the cakes were made.

According to Furst, the Kanembu, who at times get much of their protein from Spirulina, wait for winds to push the algae toward the shore, where it collects and becomes concentrated into a thick mash.  Women with calabashes ladle the algal mass into circular depressions in the sand where it is dried by the hot sun.  As the blue-green sheet gels, the glossy surface is smoothed by hand and marked off into squares.  When most of the water has evaporated or seeped into the sand, the squares are pulled up, dried further on mats, and cut into small, flat, brittle cakes.  The Kanembu eat dihe in a thick, pungent sauce made of tomatoes, chili peppers, and various spices poured over millet, the staple of the region.

After careful examination it was determined that consumption of Spirulina S. platensis is limited to a rather small area, east of northeast of Lake Chad, with a total population of 300,000.  Of this population only the Kanembu consume dihe regularly, whereas the fishermen and nomads consume little, if any.  As seasons vary, dihe is present in seven of ten meals.  Direct consumption of the dihe biscuits takes place only for superstitious reasons among pregnant women.  The reason is that its dark color will supposedly screen the unborn baby from the eyes of sorcerers.  In general dihe is eaten as an ingredient in sauces, with millet.  The dry dihe is pounded in a mortar and the powder is suspended in water.  Salt, pimento, tomatoes, and, if available, beans, meat, or fish are added to complete the sauce.  In any given meal a person eats approximately 10-12 grams of dihe.

That dihe may represent an emergency food may be deducted from the finding that its consumption decreases when the economic conditions, of local availability, allow consumption of meat or fish.  However, during periods of severe famine, dihe is still consumed extensively.

When searching the algae literature and records for the uses of microalgae, one is left with the impression that this topic has been taboo for quite some time.  Nevertheless, Johnston was able to excavate an early report which he summarizes as follows: "Dr. Hooker, in a paper read before the Linnean Society of London, January 20, 1852, mentioned that Nostocedule (= N. pruniforme, the "lake plum") was found abundantly in streams in Tartary.  It was highly esteemed as an ingredient in soups.  This form of Nostoc was well known and eaten in Mongolia and China, in which countries it was used extensively as an article of commerce, generally sold in dried form."  The actual widespread consumption of a species of Nostoc was noted by Johnston, a habit which was also observed in the Andes mountains of Peru.

According to Johnston, species of filamentous green algae, Oedogonium and Spirogyra, are collected, sold, and eaten in Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, and India.  The same holds for the flat thalluses of Prasiola yunnanica (resembling thin salad leaves) in China and P. japonica in Japan, both of which have an appreciably high protein content.  It is, therefore, perhaps a legitimate question to ask how unconventional a protein source microalgae are, among the so-called novel sources of protein.

There are the occasional newspaper reports of the "Chlorella eaters" of Auroville, India.  In Tamil Nadu, India there are "multiplication units" consisting of cement tanks for the raising of blue-green algae.  Large-scale algae production at state seed farms are already initiated in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.

The idea of producing microalgae on a production scale first occurred to German scientists who thought about the means to abating the acute shortage of food supply during World War II.  The primary idea was to produce lipids from nitrogen-starved diatoms which were shown to accumulate appreciable amounts of fat under laboratory conditions.  Since the productivity of nutrient-deficient algae is rather low, technological interest soon after switched to the production of proteinaceous microalgal matter, and thus scientists began to intensively investigate the potential of Chlorella, which was known to double its biomass a few times per day in highly illuminated laboratory cultures.  If such a photosynthetic organism with a crude protein content of 50-60 or even 88% (as found by Spoehr and Milner) could be cultivated at the industrial scale, would this not lead to a revolution in plant production?  This question has been carefully examined since 1947 in several countries.

The first systematic efforts toward translating laboratory methods into engineering specifications for a large-scale algae plant were conducted by Stanford University in their Department of Plant Biology of the Carnegie Institution of Washington from 1948 to 1950.  At that time the Institute was headed by C.S. French, one of the leading photosynthesis researchers of the era, under whom the first fully satisfying apparatus for continuous production of Chlorella was developed.

Around that same time, in 1949, a research and development program for large-scale production of green algae in ponds was started under Gummert in Essen, Germany.

In 1951 the Chlorella pilot plant was constructed and operated for the Carnegie Institution by Arthur D. Little, Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  Another series of laboratory and pilot plant studies followed in Japan under the guidance of Tamiya after his stay at Stanford.  His strong working group at the famous Tokugaw Institute in Tokyo concentrated again on Chlorella research.  Israel similarly conducted studies on Chlorella during this period.  The results of this first wave of applied research on microalgae were published in a book titled AlgalCulture, and contains an interesting article on the use of a "natural" algal suspension consisting mainly of Chlorella for the nutrition and apparently successful treatment of leprosy by Jorgensen and Convit.

In the 1960's, concern about diminishing world food resources was increasing.  Jean Leonard published a report about Spirulina as a food, and this attracted the interest of several French engineers.  In 1967, a Japanese scientist named Hiroshi Nakamura read an article about Spirulina projects being conducted by the French National Petroleum Center, and was intrigued by the possibilities.  Nakamura had long been interested in the potential of algae as a source of protein for a starving world, but he had not been aware of the superiority of Spirulina over other species.  Thereafter, Nakamura and his Japanese colleagues became pioneers in the research and development of Spirulina's commercial applications.  In Japan, Spirulina is now recognized as a superior food for commercial fish and other domestic animals, and is also used as a therapeutic food supplement in some human disease states.  Long concerned about maximizing food production with limited space and resources, the Japanese are now leaders in Spirulina production and consumption.  Japan is also the recognized leader in Chlorella production.

As we enter the 1990's, Chlorella and Spirulina are being commercially grown and processed in Japan, China, Taiwan, Mexico, Israel, Thailand, Korea, California and Oregon.  Because of the small space required to grow algae, one acre will yield 40 tons of algae per year, compared to only half a ton of soybeans.  This suggests and important new food business still in the early and exciting stages of practical development.

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Source:   THE PHOENIX LIBERATOR, October 6, 1992, Volume 20, Number 12, Pages 37-39.

http://www.phoenixarchives.com/liberator/1992/1092/100692.pdf

Transcribed into HTML format by R. Montana

Comments added by R. Montana / 3-7-2013

Appreciation goes out to Rick Martin for sharing his most interesting and informative document (reproduced above) published in THE PHOENIX LIBERATOR  over two decades ago.

Readers familiar with Sumarian lore might surmise that the Chlorella and Spirulina living in freshwater lakes and streams around the world today may be descendents of similar single-celled microalgaes that survived the formation of this planet through the tumultuous break-up of the larger planet TI.MAT ("Maiden of Life") some 4 billion Earth-years ago.  Ones might further surmise that the first inhabitants on Earth encountered and used these microalgaes to supplement their diets dating back to the time of the supercontinent Pan.

The following videos were selected to supplement the above document, introducing what is currently known to be the health benefits of consuming these microalgaes.

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