This content reveals duckweed (also known as "eggs of the water" or "pumm") as an incredibly efficient, protein-dense, and easily cultivable plant that has been largely overlooked by Western agriculture due to its appearance, lack of patentability, and threat to the industrial food system.
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One bucket, 5 minutes [music] to set up.
48 hours later, you have twice as much
protein as you started with. No soil, no
weeding, no waiting months for harvest.
NASA calls it the most protein dense
plant on Earth. [music]
Thailand has eaten it for centuries.
They call it eggs of the water. Two
things explain why almost nobody in the
West grows it. One involves water. The
other involves a lie we have been told
[music] about where protein comes from.
By the end of this video, I will show
you the exact fiveinut setup that
[music] turns any container into a
protein factory. But first, [music] you
need to understand why this plant was
hidden from you in the first place.
Welcome back to Secrets [music] Beneath
Nature. If you have ever wondered why
growing your own protein [music] feels
impossible while corporations profit
from your dependence, you are about to
discover something that [music] changes everything.
everything.
For generations in northern Thailand, [music]
[music]
families have harvested tiny green
spheres from still water. No farm
[music] needed, no fertilizer purchased,
just a wooden bucket. And patients
measured in hours, not [music] months.
They called it pumm. Their grandchildren
called it [music] breakfast. The plant
floated on calm ponds and drainage
ditches. It required nothing but water
and sunlight. Yet, it provided something
that should have been impossible.
Complete protein, every essential amino
acid, growing faster than anything
western agriculture had ever seen.
Then a scientist at Rutgers University
noticed what indigenous [music]
communities already knew. Dr. Eric Lamb
saw a plant so small you could fit
dozens on a single fingernail. It grew
so fast it defied everything modern
agriculture taught us about efficiency.
When NASA started searching for food to
grow on space stations, they tested
every candidate imaginable. They tested
lettuce, soybeans, wheat, and potatoes.
One plant outperformed them all. The
same protein source a Thai grandmother
harvests from buckets [music]
now feeds astronauts in orbit. The same
plant western science ignored for
decades became [music] the centerpiece
of space food research. We have been
told protein requires vast land, [music]
intensive farming, and months of growth
cycles. This plant laughs at those rules.
rules.
Picture this. Day one, [music] you place
a thin green film on still water, barely
visible, [music] just a scattering of
dots smaller than lentils floating on
the surface. Day three, a carpet so
thick you cannot see the water beneath.
The green has multiplied into a dense
mat covering everything. Day five, you
scoop out handfuls and the bucket looks
exactly as full as before. The plant
replaced itself overnight. Each frond is
smaller than a grain of rice. Bright
green. No roots visible on most species. [music]
[music]
Just pure concentrated nutrition
floating like living emeralds. The
texture is soft, almost silky when
fresh. [music] In Thai cuisine, they
serve it in omelets and soups. The taste
surprises everyone who tries it. Mild,
clean, slightly nutty. Nothing like the
pond scum its appearance suggests. Dry
it, powder it, and you now hold
something [music] with more protein per
gram than most things in your refrigerator.
refrigerator.
Now, let me show you the numbers that do
not make sense until you see them
yourself. Researchers Aenroth and
colleagues published their findings in
food chemistry. In 2017,
duckweed protein content ranges from 20
to 45% dry weight. For comparison, beef
is about 26% protein. Eggs are around
13%. Soybeans come in at 36% on a good
day. A study published in the Journal of
Agricultural and Food Chemistry in 2024
found that one species called Lemn Gibba
reached 45% crude [music] protein. The
amino acid profile is complete. All
essential amino acids are present
meeting or exceeding World Health
Organization requirements for human
nutrition. The protein inside this plant
is mostly something called rubiscoco.
The most abundant protein on earth. The
same molecule that makes plants convert
sunlight into food concentrated into
something you can eat directly.
Here is where it gets strange. Current
biology published a paper in 2023 that
made scientists reconsider everything
they knew about plant growth. Under
favorable conditions, duckweed doubles
its biomass clonally in 48 to 72 hours.
A 2025 paper in Scientific Reports
called it the closest plant to what
researchers call the Darwin Wallace
demons, the theoretical organism that
reproduces as fast as mathematically
possible. Ziegler and colleagues
measured doubling times as fast as 1.34
days. Some species approach 16 hours
under perfect conditions. Compare this
to anything else you might grow.
Soybeans need 90 days minimum. Beef
cattle need 18 months to reach slaughter
weight. This plant doubles before most
people remember to water their house
plants. Now, here is where conventional
agriculture falls apart completely. A
2024 paper in Science Direct compiled
the numbers across multiple studies.
Duckweed yields 2,080 kg of protein per
hectare per year. Soybeans produce 303
kg per hectare per year. Corn produces
179 kg per hectare per year. That is not
a small difference. Duckweed produces
nearly 7 times more protein per unit of
land than soy and 10 times more than
corn. ACS Food Science and Technology
went even further. Under optimal
European greenhouse conditions, duckweed
yields 10 to 18 tons of protein per
hectare per year. Soy in the same region
produces 0.6 to 1.2 tons. One researcher
summarized it simply. The surface of a
small pond can outproduce an entire
soybean field. The environmental numbers
destroy every argument for industrial
meat production, food, and biorocess.
Technology published data in 2025
showing duckweed produces 0.4 kg of
carbon dioxide equivalent per kilogram
of plant material. Beef produces 27 kg
of carbon dioxide equivalent per
kilogram. That is nearly 70 times the
environmental impact. Duckweed needs no
tractors, no pesticides, and no
competition for crop land. It grows on
water that would otherwise sit unused.
So why [music] did this knowledge
disappear from western awareness? Three
reasons compound each other. First, it
looks like pond scum. Western
agriculture values appearance and size.
The visual spectacle of a corn field
draws attention. A plant you need a
magnifying glass to appreciate does not
photograph well for farm subsidies.
Nobody brags about their floating green
[music] carpet the way they brag about
their tomato harvest. Second, it cannot
be patented in its natural [music] form.
No seed company profits from something
that reproduces by splitting in half. No
equipment manufacturer sells specialized
duckweed [music] tractors. No processing
facility stands between you and your food.
food.
Every middleman in industrial
agriculture loses money when you grow
protein in a bucket.
Third, the industrial food system
depends on complexity. It relies on long
supply chains, storage infrastructure,
and processing facilities.
A plant that grows itself in any
container [music]
threatens the entire model. But in
northern and northeastern Thailand, this
knowledge never disappeared. They call
it [music] ka nam, eggs of the water.
The genus wolfia has been featured in
local cuisine for centuries. Served
fresh in omelets and stirred into soups.
It was such an obvious protein source
that they never needed to rediscover it.
Dr. Wayne Armstrong at California
[music] State University spent decades
documenting every duckweed species on
Earth. He found wolfia globosa growing
wild within miles of major American
universities. The same plant Thai
grandmothers harvest. It was floating
unnoticed in American ponds, hidden in
plain sight.
Then [music] space travel changed the
equation. NASA needed food that grew
fast in small spaces with minimal inputs.
inputs.
Suddenly, duckweed mattered to people
with funding. The Translational Research
Institute for Space Health partnered
with University of Colorado Boulder.
Their finding, published in 2020, shook
everything researchers thought they
knew. Duckweed is the most proteindense
plant [music] on the planet. It produces
radiation fighting antioxidants called
zeoxanthin and luteine. It thrives under
artificial light at half the intensity
of normal sunlight. The first space test
happened in 1966.
Duckweed [music] flew on the orbital
vehicle satellite alongside chlorella
algae. That was decades before most
Americans heard the word superfood and
before protein powder became a
billiondoll industry. NASA already knew
what this plant could do. They tested it
on the MER space station. They grew it
in the closed equilibrated biological
aquatic system. Research published in
2024 showed that just 600 g of fresh
wolfier could meet an adult astronaut's
daily protein needs.
Now, I promised you the 5-minut setup.
Here is exactly how to do it. [music]
You need any container that holds water.
A 5gallon bucket works perfectly. A
plastic storage bin works too. A kitty
pool is good for larger production. Even
a glass baking dish on a window sill
will do. Choose shallow and wide
containers, not deep and narrow.
Duckweed only grows on the surface. 3 in
of water depth is plenty. More surface
area means more growth space. For water,
you can use decllorinated tap water.
Rainwater works even better. Pond water
is ideal if you have access. If you use
tap water, let it sit overnight in an
open container so the chlorine can
evaporate naturally. You can also add a
water conditioner from any pet store.
The pH should be between 6 and 7.5.
Most tap [music] water already falls in
this range. For nutrients, you have
several options. Fish tank water is
perfect. The nitrogen from fish waste
gives [music] duckweed exactly what it
needs. If you do not have a fish tank,
dilute any balanced liquid fertilizer to
1/5 the strength recommended on the
label. You can also add a few drops of
aquarium plant food each week. Even a
tiny amount of organic matter, [music]
like a decaying leaf, provides enough
nutrients to get started. Now, the
duckweed [music] itself. Float your
starter on the surface, starting with
enough to cover 10 to 20% of the water.
You can find duckweed in local ponds,
order it online, or get some from a
friend with an aquarium.
One tablespoon is enough to start an
entire bucket. Place your container
where it receives bright indirect
[music] light, 6 hours minimum. A sunny
window works, and a shaded patio will
work as well. Direct hot sun all day can
[music] overheat the water, but duckweed
tolerates more variation than you might
expect. Temperatures between 60 and 90°
F are ideal. [music] That is the entire
setup. Walk away.
48 [music] to 72 hours later, the
coverage has doubled. You will not
believe how fast it happens until you
see it yourself. By day five, you can
harvest. [music] Skim half the surface
with a small net or kitchen strainer.
Leave the other half to keep growing.
Rinse the harvested plants. Pat dry. Use
them fresh in salads [music] or
smoothies or spread thin on a tray to
dry for protein powder. One critical
warning. Never dump duckweed into
natural waterways. In some regions, it
can become invasive. Compost any excess.
Feed it to chickens. Give it to fish.
Add it to livestock feed. It benefits
nearly every animal that eats plants.
The aquaponics community discovered this
years ago. Tilapia farmers cut feed
costs by 50% using duckweed.
Backyard chicken keepers noticed their
egg yolks turned deeper orange within
weeks. Homesteaders in Arizona grow more
protein in a 50-gallon storage tote
[music] than their neighbors grow on 2
acres of alalfa.
Commercial interest is exploding. A
company called Parabel USA developed a
protein ingredient from water lentils
called lentine. Hinommen in Israel sells
wolffia [music] as a superfood
supplement called mankai. The same plant
available for free in most temperate
[music] ponds now commands premium
prices in health food stores. What
grandmothers harvested for generations
became a venture capital darling
overnight. Here is what they never
wanted you to understand.
Protein independence requires neither
wealth nor acorage nor permission from
industrial agriculture. The solution
floated on every neglected pond and
forgotten drainage ditch. All along the
Thai grandmother knew. NASA [music]
scientists know. Now you know. If you
found this valuable, watch the next
video and don't forget to subscribe. See
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