Sea Greens

The latest superfood (and chef must-have) comes straight from the ocean.

Photo by Bruce Peterson

Let’s get this out of the way right at the top: Yes, plankton is the stuff that fish eat. But these days, more and more humans (by way of high-end chefs) are consuming sustainable, freeze-dried marine phytoplankton, too. “It tastes like a combination of something ocean-y and something plant-y,” says Craigie on Main’s Tony Maws, who gets his from the Maine-based Browne Trading Company. “It’s weird to say it tastes ‘green,’ but it does.” For a verdant pasta with a vegetal, briny finish, Maws incorporates the plankton, which comes from the coast of Spain, into a semolina dough that also contains dashi broth and nori. In addition to its color and flavor, the plankton packs a nutritional wallop. It has 30 times the omega-3 fatty acids of olive oil. The new superfood doesn’t come cheap, but if you get your hands on it, Maws suggests hydrating the powder and folding it into pasta sauce or salad dressing.

$99 for 50 grams; Browne Trading Company, brownetrading.com.

Source URL: http://www.bostonmagazine.com/2012/07/sea-greens/