It is a small cooperative dedicated to the cultivation, harvesting, and distribution of marine products that have had the idea to start commercializing the Salicornia, a plant that naturally grows in salt marshes like in the estuaries of the Bay of Cadiz. Its promoters, Jesús Toledo and Manolo Rodríguez, started to market this original product in 2015, by means of a 100% handmade collection of a 100% natural product.

“Although it is very gratifying, the work is hard and consists of cutting the final part of the stems of each plant, which is the tenderest part of the herb that we use. Once gathered, the fragments of Salicornia are packaged into small containers and marketed. We do not do anything else. It’s a completely natural product,” says Toledo, founding partner of ATECMAR.

Salicornia is a very thin plant and is similar both in taste and appearance to the wild asparagus, earning it the name, “sea asparagus”. Although it can also appear in some restaurant menus under the name of “sea beans” or “samphire greens”. It is rich in flavor and a marine touch, so it goes very well with dishes such as scrambled eggs and stews.

ATECMAR has recently brought to the market other equally original products, like Salicornia extract, jam and artisan beer called La Portuense with Salicornia flavor. 

“At the moment we are a small cooperative that deals with the collection of Salicornia so that it can be consumed and enjoyed by people, but we are also trying to innovate and create new quality and original products based on Salicornia. In the near future, we hope our products are increasingly known and to be able to grow the number of members in our cooperative,” Jesús Toledo, founding partner of ATECMAR.

The website will soon be available: http://www.mundosalicornia.es/. Although ATECMAR products can already be bought online at this address.