Archaeologists digging at an Inca site on the arid coast of southern Peru have unearthed two rare, roughly 500-year-old freeze-dried potatoes. The potatoes are among the only ones found in more than a century and would have been transported across the empire from the freezing peaks of the Andes.
  • Lvxferre [he/him]@mander.xyzEnglish
    0·
    3 days ago

    You know, when people say the Nile is not the jewel of Egypt, but Egypt is the jewel of the Nile?

    So. The Inca Empire did not create chuño; chuño created the Inca Empire. It was what allowed the relatively small kingdom of Cuzco to feed its troops for long-term war, and eventual conquest of neighbouring peoples, forming the Inca Empire.

    The technique is probably way older than the chuño they found, from the 13th century or so.

    Even after the fall of the Inca, chuño remained a staple food.

    Even today. Here’s an example (chuño puthi, i.e. chuño with a peanut sauce). Interesting enough the folks in that region seem to treat it as an ingredient completely apart from potatoes, they aren’t interchangeable and some recipes call for both in specific amounts.

    You’ll also see ground chuño being used in plenty soups as a thickener.

    alongside other important Indigenous staples, such as dried meats.

    Specially ch’arki. Originally made from llama meat and similar, but with the introduction of cows I bet it’s mostly bovine nowadays. Sun-dried and salted, it doesn’t get all the fancy processing as the above, but it was damn important regardless, you can’t live just off potatoes.