TRADE AND MARKET I NG Famous Chuño provides Peruvian growers with better income NATURAL CHUÑO STEP BY STEP Because the Incas couldn’t keep their potatoes for long, they came up with a clever method to be able to eat potatoes all year round, namely freeze-drying. They also had many varieties with a high glycoalkaloid content, which were not directly edible. The process is as follows: The growers spread the potatoes in the field after the harvest in the months of June and July. In these cold winter months, the potatoes freeze during the night. They leave them for five nights. After the fifth night, the women stamp the potatoes with their bare feet to break the surface. A particularly cold and unpleasant job. After bruising, the potatoes are put into bags and placed in the water of a flowing stream, in the old days they were put into straw. This causes the glycoalkaloids to disappear from the tubers, as does the green discolouration of the potatoes during the time they lie in the field. This process takes two to four weeks. After this period, the growers remove the bags of potatoes from the stream and let them dry in the field. When dry, each tuber is a white or brown, light ball of starch that can be stored for a long time. Peruvians use Chuño as a binding agent in soup or they cook the tuber and eat it with a piece of cheese. A healthy way to eat the potatoes. Today, Peruvians still eat Chuño and you can see it in all local markets and also in the supermarkets. Chuño has a shelf life of 20 years. There are two types, the white (also called Tunta) and the black. The white variant is washed, and the black one is only dried in the bright sun high in the mountains after freezing and stamping. Potato World 2019 • number 1 17 Pagina 16
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