BY JESSICA PARKS
Patrons will only fi nd one ingredient
on the menu when visiting
the recently-opened storefront
in Greenwood Heights
— an edible algae called spirulina,
which the owners claim to
have perfected better than the
fl avor many consumers are accustomed
to.
“It is super nutritious, much
more delicious, and also it is extremely
sustainable,” said Jonas
Guenther, co-owner of We
are the New Farmers. “We grow
all of the spirulina ourselves.”
We are the New Farmers
opened a storefront on Fifth
Avenue near 20th Street,
where customers can pick up
their orders of the nutrientrich
algae grown from their
farm in the Brooklyn Army
Terminal in Sunset Park,
where they harvest the crop
once each week.
“I recommend placing an
order online for the simple
reason that we offer a fresh
product, it expires so it is not a
shelf-stable thing,” said Guenther.
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“And that means we harvest
once a week… and people
can pick it up the same day or
the day after the harvest.”
Spirulina is often known
for its fi shy, unpleasant fl avor,
which is due to it being produced
far away in tropical climates
in Southeast Asia and
then dehydrated into a powder
for transport, but the urban
farmers found a way to produce
it right here in Brooklyn,
Guenther said.
“If you’ve had it by itself…
you will notice it has actually
a very nasty and a strong fl avor,”
Guenther said. “That is
because normally you grow
this kind of algae in a very
tropical climate in southeast
Asia and then you dehydrate
it into a powder.”
The technology they created
for their indoor farm at the
Brooklyn Army Terminal allows
the algae planters to grow
spirulina to be sold fresh to
Brooklynites and for delivery to
most places across the country.
“We’ve developed technology
that allows us to grow this
not in a tropical climate, but
right here in New York City,
in Brooklyn,” Guenther said,
“that means we don’t need to dehydrate
it into a powder but can
sell it as a fresh ingredient.”
Working with fresh spirulina,
We are the New Farmers are
able to sell the algae as a paste
or in frozen cubes — which are
absent of the sour fl avors dehydrating
spirulina brings.
“It’s more like a paste, almost
like a hummus texture, so
very smooth and doesn’t have
any of the weird fl avors that the
powder has,” Guenther said.
With their spirulina being
We are the New Farmers produce fresh spirulina at the Brooklyn Army
Terminal in Sunset Park. We are the New Farmers
neutral in fl avor, the algae is
rich in vitamins and proteins,
and therefore Guenther says
it can be added to a variety of
recipes such as smoothies and
dips — and claims NASA is
even looking into the algae to
be used in their space food.
“I always like to say it is
one of the greatest ways to
start your day,” said Jonas,
“because spirulina is incredibly
rich in a variety of different
nutrients and proteins.”
As the superfood has been
gaining popularity in the borough
and beyond, the farmers
are looking to expand even
more than their recent shop
opening and are in the works of
building a larger growing facility
to keep up with their orders.
“We ran out of space because
the last couple of months
went pretty well for us,” Guenther
said, “so we needed to expand
and while we were working
on building a much bigger
facility we decided to open a
second location.”
GOING GREEN
New Greenwood Heights store sells only
one product — locally-produced spirulina
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