Ingredient pillar · Lake Chad
Wild-harvested Lake Chad spirulina, sun-dried by the Kanembu women
Known locally as dihé. Skimmed from the alkaline shores of Lake Chad, hand-formed into thin discs, sun-dried, and milled. Tested per batch for heavy metals, microcystin, and microbial load.
Botanical
Arthrospira platensis
Origin
Lake Chad, north of N’Djamena
Form
Powder & flake
Harvest
Wild, hand-skimmed
MoQ wholesale
From 5 kg with CoA
What dihé spirulina is
Spirulina is a spiral-shaped cyanobacterium that thrives in highly alkaline waters with a pH of 9 to 11 and rich mineral content. The shallow bays north of Lake Chad are one of only a handful of places on earth where it grows naturally and abundantly. The Kanembu women have harvested it there for centuries, calling it dihé, and using it as a daily food and a long-keeping protein staple.
Our supply comes from this traditional wild harvest, not from indoor reactors or pond farms. The women skim the green film from the lake surface with calabash bowls, drain it through cloth in the sand, hand-form thin discs, and dry them in the sun on woven mats.
How to use spirulina
- Daily dose, 1 to 3 g (½ to 1 tsp) stirred into juice, smoothie or yogurt. Start at the low end; the iron load can be felt by sensitive digestions.
- Energy bites & balls, 1 tsp per batch of date-and-nut bites. The earthy note pairs with cocoa.
- Traditional Kanembu use, broken into chunks and added to a sorghum or millet stew (la sauce) toward the end of cooking.
- Capsules, for plain dosing, 0.5 g per capsule, 2 to 6 daily depending on tolerance.
Wild Lake Chad vs cultivated spirulina
| Marker | Wild Lake Chad (this) | Cultivated commodity |
|---|---|---|
| Habitat | Open alkaline lake, full sun | Closed reactor or open pond |
| Phycocyanin (blue pigment) | 14 to 18% typical | 10 to 14% typical |
| Protein | 62 to 68% dry weight | 55 to 65% dry weight |
| Heavy-metal risk profile | Lake background, must test | Source-water dependent, must test |
| Energy footprint | None, sun-dried at point of harvest | Higher, pumps, paddlewheels, dryers |
| Income type | Cooperative livelihood for ~600 women | Industrial farm wage |
The Kanembu women
Cooperative profile
Dihé Cooperative of Bol
Around 600 Kanembu women across nine villages on the northern shore of Lake Chad, near the town of Bol. Harvest runs roughly nine months a year, paused during the rainy peak when runoff alters the bloom. The cooperative has its own sieving and packing house built in 2023; we co-financed a stainless-steel screening line that replaced cloth straining and dropped microbial counts by 70%.
How we know each batch is clean
Wild harvest from a large, shared lake means QC is non-negotiable. Every batch is tested for:
- Microcystin-LR, the cyanotoxin risk associated with cyanobacterial blooms. Spec: <1 µg/g (WHO guideline).
- Heavy metals, lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury panel. Within FDA dietary supplement limits.
- Microbial, total plate count, yeast/mould, salmonella, E. coli, listeria.
- Phycocyanin assay, confirms identity and pigment content.
- Per-batch CoA with every wholesale shipment of 5 kg or more.
Three uses
1. Pineapple-coconut energiser
1 cup pineapple, ½ cup coconut milk, ½ banana, 1 tsp spirulina, juice of half a lime. Blend. The pineapple bromelain rounds off the seaweed note.
2. Cocoa-spirulina energy bites
1 cup pitted dates, ½ cup cashews, 2 tbsp cocoa, 2 tsp spirulina, pinch of salt. Pulse in a food processor, roll into 12 balls. Keeps a week in the fridge.
3. La sauce au dihé (Kanembu tradition)
Cook a tomato, onion, and chilli base. Add stock and stir in 1 to 2 tbsp dihé pieces (re-hydrated 5 min in warm water) at the end of simmering. Serve with millet or sorghum.
Shop spirulina
Frequently asked
Why does it smell like the ocean?
That seaweed-and-pond note is a normal marker of cyanobacterial biomass, geosmin and 2-methylisoborneol are the two molecules responsible. Pair with citrus, cocoa, or pineapple to mask it for daily use.
Is wild-harvested spirulina riskier than cultivated?
Both face the same fundamental question, is the source water clean. Lake Chad is large, shallow, and far from heavy industry, which gives it a clean baseline; the variable is microcystin from natural bloom dynamics, which is why every batch is tested. We will not ship a batch that is over WHO spec.
Iron-sensitive stomachs?
Spirulina is iron-rich and can feel intense to people who are not used to it. Start at ½ tsp with food and work up over a week or two.
Vegan B12?
Spirulina contains pseudovitamin B12, which is not bioavailable in humans. Do not rely on it as a B12 source, it is excellent for protein, iron and phycocyanin, but get B12 elsewhere.
Why flake form for some lots?
The traditional Kanembu form is a thin sun-dried disc that breaks into flakes. We sell both the flake form (closer to the village product, doses by tablespoon) and the milled powder (uniform, doses by teaspoon).