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Potatoes · Potato · Short entry

Andean native potatoes

Not one cultivar but thousands of landraces kept by Andean farming communities — more than 4,000 native varieties grow in the highlands of Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. They are often grown together in one field, a traditional hedge against frost and other climatic risks. Some belong to potato species other than the common Solanum tuberosum.

Andean native potatoes — editorial illustration

Chuño: the freeze-dried potato

High in the Andes, farmers make chuño by exposing potatoes to hard night frosts and thawing them in the sun, again and again, then trampling and drying them. The light, hard tubers keep for years — a preservation technique far older than the industrial freeze-drier.

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How it connects

Place

  • origin Lake Titicaca basin In preparation
  • grown in Potato Park, Pisac In preparation

Story

Recipe

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