Spirulina is great! But there are better tasting options…
My "reviews" are typically long and relatively detailed. I believe in being educated about the products I buy and eat, so that's the way I approach my reviews. For your convenience I have written this in two parts. Namely, IN BRIEF and the FULL REVIEW. If you don't like long reviews (or simply don't have the time), you might prefer to just read the IN BRIEF part. It's up to you. << IN BRIEF >> Spirulina does not need to taste bad. This one does, and sadly this seems to be putting people off of spirulina in general. Please read this review before that happens to you. I've been using spirulina for over 20 years. I have a few tablespoons almost daily. I can't recommend it more highly (along with good quality Chlorella powder). I have never minded the taste of spirulina. I know some people (my mother included, who says it tastes too green and fishy) dislike the taste. When I started out on spirulina I was buying New Zealand brands (that's where I lived), and those brands were likely sourcing raw material in India and/or China. When I first tried Hawaiian spirulina (about 18 years ago) it tasted markedly better. Fresh, creamy, and deliciously green. Because I prefer certified organic products, and because people were complaining about the taste of this product, I have recently tried this "Organic" spirulina from Now Foods. Simply put, it is the worst tasting spirulina I have experienced. I don't recommend it, and I think paying a little extra for the Hawaiian spirulina is well worth it. Sometimes we get what we pay for, and in this case I personally feel that Nutrex Hawaii Hawaiian Spirulina Pacifica Powder is better. Having said that, spirulina grown in Southern California by Earthrise is also very decent and is tastes fine (as far as Spirulina goes). But it is typically more expensive than Nutrex. If you are considering adding spirulina to your diet, PLEASE DO. Give it a few weeks of daily use, and I am sure you will be happy you did. I invite you to refer to my review on the Nutrex Spirulina for some information on a nice tasting super-food drink recipe I make (affectionately known as my "swamp water"), and some other details on spirulina. As a traditional naturopath, I have put many clients and friends onto spirulina over the years and most, if not all, happily reported excellent benefits. More energy; less food cravings; less appetite; reduced or eliminated desire for animal (meat) products (in aspiring vegetarians); clearer head; less brain fog in the morning, etc. If you have the time and desire for more detailed information please read on. If not, may you enjoy the benefits of spirulina. << FULL REVIEW AND COMMENTARY >> Since mid 2011 my review on the Nutrex Hawaiian spirulina recommended people to instead buy the 4 lb tub of non-organic spirulina from Now Foods. The reason was that Now Foods were sourcing their non-organic spirulina from the same company (Cyanotech) in Hawaii as the source of the Nutrex brand. The 4 lb tubs made it quite a bit cheaper per pound. It was an excellent deal. A few months ago (around mid 2012) people started complaining about the taste of the Now Foods (non-organic) spirulina. Read through the many reviews of this product and you will see what I mean. It's almost comical to read. "It smells like crap, and tastes like it to"; "It was positively vile"; "Look it smells and tastes like fish ass"; "I tried to get over the taste, but can't"; "this smells so awful no matter what I mix the powder with, no matter what ratio I use. And the horrid smell/taste lingers in my mouth and nose" - these are copy/pasted comments from five reviews I read over just now. Sadly, good spirulina tastes relatively nice, and it concerns me that this crappy tasting spirulina is putting people off of an otherwise excellent nutrient dense super-food. I enquired with Now Foods (and continue to do so) and found out they had ceased sourcing from Hawaii and were instead getting it from the same Indian company supplying their "Organic" spirulina - Parry Nutraceuticals. You can look up the website of Parry on google. You'll see it all looks pretty impressive on paper, yet there is something seriously off about the taste of their organic and non-organic spirulina. When I say "off" I am being kind. I thought if I was going to continue buying Now Foods spirulina, and if it was coming from India no matter what option I bought from them, I might as well get a lb of their organic spirulina to try. My gosh. What a surprise... In over 20 years of almost daily spirulina usage (having had brands from all over the world [I travel a LOT]) I can safely say this is the worst tasting spirulina I have ever had the displeasure of trying. It literally smells like cow or horse manure. And it tastes the way I imagine cow manure would taste, based on the smell of cow manure. The net result is that in the few weeks since I received this "Organic Spirulina" from Now Foods, I have ceased being a spirulina eater. I live in Central America, so I have to wait until I can get some more Nutrex spirulina down here. I only dared try this green manure tasting powder from NOW three times in nearly three weeks. And each of those times, I had to put in a significant amount of ripe banana to try and mask the taste enough to be able to drink it. My partner refuses to drink it. If you don't mind the manure taste, I have no particular reason to not recommend the NOW Foods spirulina products sourced from Parry Nutraceuticals. I will say I am not convinced paying the extra price for so-called "organic" is worth while for this particular product though. See my note about ORGANIC below. However, I know many people who already find the rich green taste of spirulina a little hard to stomach. Contending with the additional taste of manure is too much for them (it was for me). So the only recommendation I can make is that anyone serious about eating AND enjoying spirulina stick with or try the Hawaiian one, with the Nutrex brand. For that matter, I would recommend any made in the USA brand of spirulina, over and above this one from India (and I am not against products made in India, I just don't like it when my spirulina tastes like manure). I happen to find the Hawaiian one tastes the nicest, but another US brand is Earthrise Spirulina Natural Powder -- 16 oz . I have tried it, and it's a lot nicer than this Indian one from NOW Foods. Here's the link to the Hawaiian spirulina, Nutrex Hawaii Hawaiian Spirulina Pacifica Powder, 16-Ounce Bottle . I've been using that brand for about 18 years, and it tastes great (well, as great as something this green and nutrient dense could taste). I've shopped around and Amazon usually has the best price (especially with Prime free shipping included), but you might sometimes find it a little cheaper on other sites. But I always get it from Amazon, as their customer service and Prime shipping is the best I have experienced. >> ORGANIC ? << You may be wondering why I said in the above text "so-called organic". Well, according to my research it is not possible to grow spirulina with reputable organic certification. If you want to know more, I highly recommending researching this online yourself. Here is what Cyanotech (the makers of Nutrex Hawaiian Spirulina had to say on the dropping of their organic certification. I think it is worth reading, for reasons I explain below: "In October 2002 the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) voted to continue to allow the use of mined Chilean nitrate in Spirulina production until October 2005. (Chilean nitrate is a water soluble form of nitrogen used in the production of Organic Spirulina.) Unfortunately, the USDA organic production regulations are directed at terrestrial farming and do not address the unique position occupied by aquatic farming of crops such as Spirulina. Production of Spirulina requires water soluble forms of phosphorus and nitrogen. This is not desired in terrestrial farming as soluble forms of phosphorous and nitrogen can harm the soil and contaminate ground water; on the other hand, in Spirulina production this is not a problem because all culture ponds are lined and there is no runoff or contamination of ground water. Cyanotech feels that the NOSB will vote to disallow the use of Chilean nitrate in October 2005 as it is mined and thus not considered a sustainable source of nitrogen. With Chilean nitrate prohibited in all organic production systems, an alternative source of organic soluble nitrogen must be found. The only sources of soluble nitrogen allowed under organic regulations are compost teas and various manures. Cyanotech has examined these potential sources of soluble nitrogen and found them unsatisfactory because they would: 1) Contaminate our Spirulina with lead and other heavy metals 2) Increase the bacterial count in Spirulina 3) Produce inferior Spirulina products at a much higher cost For these reasons, Cyanotech will stop production of organic Spirulina if Chilean nitrate is disallowed in October, 2005. Instead we will concentrate our efforts to continually improve the quality of our All Natural Spirulina products. >> End Quote You will see that the above data indicates an organic approved alternative for Chilean nitrate is "composting teas and manure". I actually only noticed that when I pasted it in here, as I received that info from Cyanotech more than a year ago. I am now seriously wondering if this is why the "organic" spirulina from India tastes like manure? I won't go so far as to say there is manure in there, but it certainly tastes pretty convincingly like there is. Just what that fowl taste is coming from, I can't be sure. As a reputable and major spirulina company in Australia has pointed out, it is strictly speaking not possible to have an organic spirulina that is certified with reputable certifiers, because growing good quality spirulina requires some (non-toxic) inputs that "western" certifications don't allow. So I question the quality of this organic spirulina from Now Foods for these above reasons (the cow s*** taste issue aside). Here is that quote from the Australian Spirulina company in full: >> Begin quote... "Organic products are the modern people's new flavor. Anything labeled organic can be sold for better prices. So far it is difficult to find an independent organisation that can judge whether this is real or not. "Organic" means no chemical type of fertilizer or adjuster (whether extracted from nature or not) can be used while growing the product until it is harvested. If the company simply does not use pesticides and herbicides, it should not be eligible to claim their product as "Organic". Our company is an expert in Spirulina growing, and we are fully aware it is impossible to grow Spirulina in extremely high density by just relying on organic feed. >> End quote. >> NOW FOODS IN GENERAL << Please know that I use a lot of products from NOW Foods, and I have nothing against them as a brand. I have regular communication with members of their product development team regarding each product I use. I like the brand, and until recently they were my preferred supplier of spirulina. Please don't regard this review as a discredit to NOW Foods in general. >> CONCLUSION << After using the Now Foods (non-organic) Hawaiian spirulina in large quantities for the past year or so, and having tried their Organic one in recent weeks, I am going back to my long-term favorite... Nutrex Hawaii Hawaiian Spirulina Pacifica Powder . I know it is high quality, and it has the best taste. I am giving this product THREE stars, mostly because spirulina in general is an excellent food supplement, and also because I appreciate that NOW Foods are at least trying to supply an certified organic spirulina product. It loses two stars for the bad taste. I wish you all the best of health, - Jonathan Evatt Traditional Naturopath, and author of Peace, Power, and Presence: A guide to Self Empowerment, Inner Peace, and Spiritual Enlightenment P.S. This is one of the few products I have given 3 stars. Usually I write reviews to rave about things I like. In this case I feel a responsibility to share with people the information that may help them decide to NOT buy this product. I don't normally tend to do that, but in this instance I have for the past year influenced countless numbers of people to buy the bulk Now Foods spirulina instead of Nutrex. So I feel I have an obligation to undo the effect of that recommendation, since it's not one I would make at this time (not until NOW Foods resolve this bad taste problem)
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