Ria Fresh

In addition to health benefits, halophyte plants have very specific gastronomic characteristics. Both reasons led Miguel Salazar to put into practice, in 2011, the research work started in 2001, that is, to move towards the cultivation of marine vegetables and to create a niche product, the Extreme Gourmet.
Samphire, sea blite, slender leaf ice plant, saltwort, sea fingers, golden samphire, sea rocket, ice plant flower, sea fennel, glacial lettuce, buck’s horn plantain, and ice plant. Here is the list of halophyte plants from RiaFresh, a denomination attributed, in 2016, by Miguel Salazar and his team, to the natural marine vegetables of the Ria Formosa Natural Park, in the Algarve, and whose cultivation based on the “highest quality standard, to guarantee food security ”, explains our interviewee.
Before proceeding, let us introduce Miguel Salazar. Born in 1971, in Rioja, in neighboring Spain, he has lived in Faro since the year that marks the beginning of the new millennium. He is an agronomist with a Ph.D. in agronomy and responsible for RiaFesh whose products are certified by GLOBAL G.A.P., a program that guarantees good practices in agricultural production.
The genesis of this project “results from a series of research works” initiated by Agro-On - a company focused on quality control in fruit products, in which Miguel Salazar contributes -, in 2001, in the Castro Marim Reserve. Ten years on, Miguel Salazar is challenged in the “sustainable culture of halophyte plants, which need salt for their development”, to be used in food, since they have health benefits, “because they are rich in salt, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. ”
Although salt marshes are the natural habitat of these marine vegetables, they are grown in greenhouses, located in Sítio do Besouro, in Faro. The implementation of this practice is crucial, since “it’s necessary to guarantee the high degree of quality of each product and the planting conditions”, being applied, for the effect, the hydroponic cultivation system [the plants grow in water with organic nutrients and without soil] for food security. This whole process is also carried out by the rest of the Agro-On team, with RiaFresh thus contributing Susana Mendes, in Quality Control, Marco Lopes, Production Manager, Carla Nunes, in Research, and Miguel Salazar, in Direction.
When the investigation was completed, the team gathered samples and, with a freezer bag in hand, Miguel Salazar visited several restaurants in the Algarve. "I went from door to door, from restaurant to restaurant". There was also the opportunity to work with a local fish and seafood distribution company, Nutrifresco. From that he reaches out to other chefs from other restaurants in the country and decides to create Extreme Gourmet, “the project of developing new plants in different growing conditions, with more or less lighting and salt and affirm production with different species.”
The samples of these plants were sent to several chefs in Portugal and Spain, who tested them in a blind test, together with an inquiry. Having gathered the documents, the responses of the chefs were combined with the cultivation conditions they had, and the analyses carried out in the laboratory. The result of this work allowed us to arrive at “an organically profitable and viable production, with optimal nutritional properties”, concludes our host, who thus presents yet another RiaFresh product, the vegetable salt made from salicornia.

Chek the Guide for the Gastronomic use of Halophyte plants resulting from a research project XtremeGourmet, coordinated by chef Leonel Pereira, with participation of several chefs: Alexandre Silva, Ángel León, Fernando Cardoso, Henrique Sá Pessoa, João Rodrigues, Louis Anjos, João Oliveira, Ricardo Costa, João Viegas, Vincent Farges and the bartender Nelson de Matos. Amazing work!