It’s grown using quantum farming, looks like green caviar, and is much better for you than broccoli, but don’t worry – it’s a real plant.
Welcome to the wonderful world of Israeli foodtech startup GreenOnyx, which grows duckweed – branded as Wanna Greens - on trays under pink lights deep inside a vast industrial complex in south Tel Aviv.
Duckweed is an aquatic plant family whose green, lentil-sized pods can be seen floating on or just beneath the surface of a pond or slow-moving waterway near you.
Not normally edible because it absorbs toxins and bacteria from its environment, when grown in isolated conditions – as GreenOnyx does – its full complement of plant protein and essential amino acids, as well as fibre, iron, zinc and vitamins A, B and C, make it the ultimate superfood.
According GreenOnyx CEO Tsipi Shoham, using the NRF9.3 score, a metric recognised by scientists worldwide to measure overall nutrient density of foods, Wolffia – the genus of duckweed grown by the company - is at least 100 per cent more nutritious than broccoli and kale.
Served pretty much any way you like – inside a salmon bagel, sprinkled on hummus, even added to ice cream – it looks like green caviar and has a satisfying, lettuce-like taste and crunch.
The idea, says Shoham, an alumna of Technion University, was to create a product that can be easily added to less healthy food to make it more nutritious.
“Our vision is that we bring something that can be seamlessly incorporated to any diet,” she told the JC.
“We don't pitch to change your diet because this is a very hard task. We just want to add the greens to your diet.
“So even if you eat very processed food, you add these greens. You improve your digestion. You improve your overall nutrition package.”
GreenOnyx, valued at around $60 million, can grow 10 tons of Wolffia a year but is building a 2,000 sq m space that will deliver 25 tons annually using quantum farming techniques, which apply quantum computing’s power to agricultural planning.
Shoham said food security departments of governments around the world have expressed interest in the product because it can be grown in a way that is “safe from changes to the environment, from supply chain across continents, from geopolitical situations”.
Once you have electricity and a water supply, she said, you can “plug in and play and grow your food wherever you wish”.
But it has advantages that apply as much to developed, junk-food-consuming societies as much as areas where nutrition is poor due to war or climate change.
Shoham went on: “Less than 10 per cent of the global population eat the minimum amount of green vegetables, which is around 50g a day.
“I used to buy a package of spinach leaves, 160g more or less, for the whole family for a week. Looking at that package, I was saying to myself, come on! I'm not going to eat that every day, and definitely not my girls.”
The solution, she said, is a product that will work as an addition to multiple dishes.
The reason Wanna Greens is so nutritious is that “every tiny grain is a whole vegetable. It's not chopped. It's not processed in any way. And actually it's still alive when eaten”.
That freshness is achieved thanks to the company’s homegrown “quantum farming” techniques.
In this system, the plants are grown surrounded by sensors that communicate with an AI-based system which provides them with “exactly what they want, when they want it”.
Standing in front of a stack of plant beds lit up by a futuristic pink light, Shoham said: “What you see here is towers of 16 shelves. In each shelf, there is a closed tray where we grow the plants. It is totally sealed; the air is moving in via filters.
“Everything is kept very isolated and sterile. Inside, we bio-mimic the conditions of the plant’s natural habitat.”
Will we all be munching duckweed with our Rice Krispies soon? Given the trajectory of previous health-food crazes, don’t bet against it.
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