Organic Gemini’s Founders Live on Tiger Nuts. They Hope You Will Too.

Organic Gemini’s Founders Live on Tiger Nuts. They Hope You Will Too.
Organic Gemini founders Mariam Kinkladze and George Papanastasatos in front of the 4-step water purification system the company uses to make its TigerNut Horchata, in their new manufacturing facility in Brooklyn, New York, on Feb. 18, 2016. Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times
Andrea Hayley
Updated:

In just three short years, Organic Gemini has taken its tiger nut products from conception, to the first stage of manufacture, to growth and a brand new 15,000 square foot, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

Tiger nuts are the fingertip-sized root vegetable that grows at the base of a grass known as Cyperus esculentus. Although the grass is deemed by the USDA a noxious weed in four states, the grasses are cultivated in Spain, Africa, parts of Latin America, and the Middle East for their highly nutritious tubers. Organic Gemini gets their tiger nuts from Niger. 

The amazing superfood has a similar fatty acid content as olive oil (75 percent oleic, and 10 percent linoleic acid), is more nutritious than beef in 10 out of 18 core micronutrients, and has a carbohydrate, fat, and protein ratio almost identical to human breast milk, according to research published in Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, and on the well-researched blog, Free The Animal, by Richard Nokoley. 

George Papanastasatos, Organic Gemini’s 31-year-old co-founder, COO, and president, said in an interview that tiger nuts are a platform for the company, and that all they do is process the tiger nuts. “It is Mother Nature. She provides it, and we put it in the bag,” he said. Papanastasatos runs Organic Gemini with his fiancee, 30-year-old co-founder Mariam Kinkladze.

Organic Gemini's products are all made from tiger nuts, which is a root vegetable simply packed with nutrition. (Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times)
Organic Gemini's products are all made from tiger nuts, which is a root vegetable simply packed with nutrition. Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times
Andrea Hayley
Andrea Hayley
Author
Reporting on the business of food, food tech, and Silicon Alley, I studied the Humanities as an undergraduate, and obtained a Master of Arts in business journalism from Columbia University. I love covering the people, and the passion, that animates innovation in America. Email me at andrea dot hayley at epochtimes.com
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