The questions customers ask us most about Wolffia (Wolffia globosa) — from what it is and how to make it properly, to what the laboratory results say and how to store it. Answered with facts, with a source for every number.
Wolffia (Thai: ผำ, "pham") is a very small freshwater flowering plant that floats on the water surface as round green grains about the size of a pinhead. Its scientific name is Wolffia globosa, the smallest flowering plant in the world. People in northern and northeastern Thailand have long gathered it from wild water sources and eaten it as a local vegetable, calling it khai nam ("water eggs") or pham.
The whole plant is edible because it has no roots, no stem and no clearly separate leaves, so nothing is thrown away. NÜF grows Wolffia in a Plant Factory with a controlled environment, then processes it into Wolffia powder for cooking and drinks.
Wolffia globosa is the scientific name of pham. It belongs to the family Araceae, subfamily Lemnoideae, genus Wolffia — the genus of the smallest flowering plants in the world. Each plant is only about one millimetre across; to the naked eye it looks like tiny green grains floating together in mats on the water.
Some English-language academic papers group Wolffia together with floating plants of other genera, but NÜF always calls this plant by its correct genus name, Wolffia, or pham, to avoid confusion with floating plants of other genera, which look different and are used differently.
They differ in genus and size. Wolffia has no roots and no separate leaves, and each grain is round and about one millimetre across. The floating plants Thai people commonly see and call แหน (haen) usually belong to other genera in the same subfamily; they have wider, flat fronds and roots that clearly hang down into the water.
The difference matters because each genus of floating plant is used in different ways. Wolffia is the one with a long history of being eaten in Thailand, while some floating plants of other genera are mainly used as animal feed or for water treatment.
Wolffia is a local vegetable that people in northern and northeastern Thailand have eaten for a long time, gathered from wild water sources and cooked in curries, stir-fries or omelettes. It is a seasonal food tied to riverside ways of life, not a new ingredient that has only just started to be eaten.
What is new is how it is produced: instead of waiting to gather it from the wild, where quality and cleanliness depend on the water source, it is grown in a Plant Factory where the water and environment are controlled, giving consistent, traceable harvests.
Make it koicha style, with a tea bowl (chawan) and a bamboo whisk (chasen). Put a little Wolffia powder in the bowl, add just enough hot water to coat the bottom, then knead slowly with the bamboo whisk until it is smooth, thick and even, with a glossy surface. Do not whisk it into foam; the result should be thick like a sauce.
What not to do is pour the powder into a glass of water and stir with a spoon — the powder clumps and does not spread evenly, so the taste is uneven. Kneading with a bamboo whisk separates the powder until it truly blends into the water, which is the heart of this method. Step-by-step guide
The reference serving of NÜF Wolffia powder is 3 g per time — about one sachet, or roughly one teaspoon. Use it in drinks, sprinkle it on food, or mix it into any dish you like. This is the serving used as the reference on the product's nutrition label.
Wolffia powder contains a fair amount of manganese, so it should not be eaten in large amounts continuously. If you regularly eat more than 30 g a day, the manganese from Wolffia powder alone approaches the recommended daily upper limit for adults, and together with other foods it may be more than you need.
Wolffia powder has a light, green-leaf aroma and a taste that leans towards umami with a slight richness. It is not bitter like strong green tea and has no sourness or sweetness of its own. Made thick in the koicha style, the taste is deeper and rounder than when diluted.
Because the taste does not lean strongly in any direction, Wolffia powder goes with both savoury and sweet dishes. Sprinkle it on rice, mix it into soup, add it to dough, or blend it with milk and other drinks without covering the main flavour of the dish.
According to the analysis report of Central Laboratory (Thailand) Co., Ltd., a laboratory accredited to ISO/IEC 17025, 100 g of NÜF Wolffia powder provides 291.52 kcal of energy, 38.56 g protein, 37.34 g carbohydrate, 20.35 g dietary fibre and 3.18 g fat; sugar and cholesterol were both not detected.
For minerals per 100 g: potassium 6,650 mg, phosphorus 863 mg, calcium 330 mg, magnesium 142 mg, iron 11.06 mg and manganese 10.34 mg.
These figures are per 100 g, the unit the laboratory uses to report results — not per serving. One serving is 3 g, so the amount per serving is about thirty-three times less than these numbers. This is a report of analysis results, not a health claim.
The analysis by Central Laboratory (Thailand) detected vitamin B12 in NÜF Wolffia powder at 0.40 µg per 100 g, using a standard AOAC method. The result is interesting because most plants do not contain this vitamin.
What must be said clearly is that this amount is very small per real serving of 3 g. NÜF therefore does not present Wolffia powder as a substitute source of vitamin B12 and does not recommend using it in place of other B12 sources. Anyone who needs vitamin B12 for health reasons should consult a doctor or dietitian.
NÜF grows Wolffia in a Plant Factory with a controlled environment; it is not gathered from wild water sources. A closed system means the water used for growing is controlled and recirculated inside, light and environmental conditions are set, and no pesticides are used in the system.
We chose this method because the quality and cleanliness of wild-gathered Wolffia depend on the water source at the time, which cannot be controlled and is hard to trace. Growing in a Plant Factory makes every harvest consistent, and the origin of every lot is known.
NÜF sends samples to Central Laboratory (Thailand) Co., Ltd., a laboratory accredited to ISO/IEC 17025, covering four areas: nutritional composition, 49 pesticide residues, 5 heavy metals, and pathogenic microorganisms.
Results: none of the 49 pesticides were detected; 3 of the 5 heavy metals were not detected and the other 2 were within the legal limits; and Salmonella and Listeria were not detected in a 25 g sample. See the full results on our case study page (in Thai).
"Not detected" in the report means below the detection limit of the test method — it does not mean zero — and the result applies to the sampled lot.
NÜF's Wolffia is GAP certified. The standard used is TAS 9001, Good Agricultural Practices for Food Crops, set by the National Bureau of Agricultural Commodity and Food Standards (ACFS) and certified by the Department of Agriculture.
To be clear: there is currently no GAP standard written specifically for Wolffia, so the certification is under the general food-crop standard. A Wolffia-specific draft standard is still being prepared and has not been issued, so NÜF does not claim certification under a Wolffia-specific standard.
Wolffia globosa has been assessed and authorised as a Novel Food in the European Union; the EFSA expert panel published its assessment in 2021. However, a Novel Food authorisation is tied to the applicant and that applicant's specifications — it is not an automatic pass for every producer.
NÜF has not yet applied for Novel Food registration for our own Wolffia powder, so we do not yet export it for sale in the European Union. We choose to state our real status rather than claim someone else's authorisation as our own.
Order directly from this website on the products page, which shows every product with current prices, or contact the team through the contact page by phone or the brand's official LINE.
Shops, restaurants and anyone interested in larger orders can contact the team directly to ask about terms and minimum quantities.
Keep it in an airtight container in a cool, dry place, away from direct sunlight and moisture. Wolffia powder absorbs moisture easily and clumps when damp, which makes it hard to whisk and changes its aroma and taste. After opening, close the bag or container tightly every time.
Always use the expiry date printed on the package of that lot, because each lot is produced and packed at a different time. If the powder changes colour, smells unusual or clumps hard, do not eat it.