Publications /  The Potato, Treasure of the Andes
From Agriculture to Culture

Potato tubers are highly perishable, particularly in the rainy or damp areas suited to their cultivation. (This is not the case for grains, seeds, or the harder parts of fruits, which have been the mainstay of archaeological research into the history of pre-Hispanic crops.) Nonetheless, some potatoes have been preserved in dry areas and caves, enabling archaeologists to shed light on the domestication of the potato. Excavations in the highlands southeast of Lima have revealed remains of potatoes dating back to 8000-6000 BC.

Although the potato was domesticated high in the Andes, current research also suggests that some 4,000 years ago coastal inhabitants had access to varieties of potato similar to those consumed today. Potato remains have been found in ancient coastal settlements north of Lima. Most of these finds date to the Formative era, between the second and first millennia BC. It is believed that these potatoes arrived on the coast through trade, as coastal dwellers were unable to grow the crop in the desert.

Ensuring the potato’s availability, however, also involved developing technologies for processing and preserving the tubers. The anthropologist Norio Yamamoto (1998) has studied chuño, a form of freeze-dried potato that enables highland communities to eat the small, bitter potatoes that grow in high, frost-prone areas. These potatoes contain chemicals called glycoalkaloids, which are responsible for the bitter taste; in fact, they are toxic to humans, and may even be lethal if eaten in large quantities. The glycoalkaloids, however, help potato plants to resist frost and to flourish at high altitudes where other plants cannot grow. Glycoalkaloids are heat-stable, so cooking does not eliminate the toxicity or bitter taste. The chuño-making process, however, developed by Andean people millennia ago, detoxifies the tubers and ensures their long-term preservation. At the same time, it makes it possible to ensure year-round supplies of potatoes.

The process requires a climate like that of the puna – dry, with temperatures that fall below zero at night and high temperatures during the day. Farmers leave the potatoes outside to freeze for several nights in a row. They then place them in a pool of water or under running water. After 30 days or more, they remove the potatoes from the water, scatter them on the ground, and tread on them to squeeze out the water and remove the skin. Finally, they leave the potatoes outside for another ten to fifteen days. The exposure to the hot sun by day and the freezing cold at night thoroughly dehydrates the tubers. The resulting product can be kept for years without spoiling.

The invention of chuño proved not only essential to the potato's development as a staple food; it also symbolized a sort of “humanization” of the potato in the collective imagination of Andean people. Indeed, in the Andes potatoes are believed to have human attributes, including anatomic and sexual features. Thanks to the centuries-old chuño technology, the potato forms part of the family, and is, “always at home.” A visitor is offered potatoes on arrival, and receives them as a parting gift. In this way, Andean people continue to celebrate the potato's existence, consecrating it as kawsay, or life itself.

Luis G. Lumbreras