UPCT researchers deliver the product of the Irruption urban agriculture project to the Cartagena restaurant with a Michelin star
An agricultural product grown with recycled water and nutrients reaches the haute cuisine of a Michelin-starred restaurant. Researchers from the Irruption project have given Magoga sea fennel that has only consumed the remains of the fertigation of another sustainable production.
Magoga has on its menu a lamb dish from Calblanque whose characteristics include having been suckled by sheep that feed on halophilic plants that grow naturally in coastal soils, such as sea fennel, and whose salinity is transferred to the milk and from there to the meat of the young. “We will add sea fennel to the dish to evoke those halophiles,” explains María Gómez, chef and owner of Magoga.
Sea fennel, an autochthonous species of the Mediterranean, has been cultivated in a floating table system, in which water is the cultivation medium, reusing the water and nutrient drainage of a main production of arugula in a soilless cultivation system. using compost from agricultural by-products.
“Our cuisine is a balance between the countryside of Cartagena and the Mediterranean, so we bet a lot on local products and kilometer zero, which is why we support these circular economy initiatives,” adds the head chef of the only restaurant in Cartagena with a Michelin star.
The Irruption project (Innovative urban agriculture for sustainable production, PID2020-114410RB-I00), financed by the State Research Agency and led by agricultural researchers Juan Antonio Fernández and Jesús Ochoa, seeks to maximize the sustainability of agricultural production. On the one hand, using compost from waste from the agri-food industry, on the other, reusing the water and nutrients drained from the main crop to achieve a second horticultural production. And distributing both products in the local environment and using biodegradable packaging.
The containers used are made, instead of plastic-based, with a compostable material made with polylatic acid that has proven effective in preserving the quality and shelf life of the product for a week, enough for its ‘zero kilometer’ distribution.
The packages also contain a QR code to guarantee the traceability of the production and its packaging. “Together with the information on the planting and harvesting dates, we have included nutritional information, so that the consumer can know the presence of beneficial compounds for health, such as vitamin C or the content of anti-nutritive compounds such as nitrates”, details Jesus Ochoa.
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