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Chuño and Tunta

Chuñu

Specialised

Potatoes are laid out in the high-altitude night to freeze, trodden to press out the water, and dried in the day sun over several cycles — an Andean freeze-drying technology of considerable antiquity that makes the potato storable for years and detoxifies bitter high-altitude varieties that are otherwise inedible. CHUÑO is the black form; TUNTA or chuño blanco is washed under cold running water, often in a stream under straw, and comes out white. ⚠ THIS IS PRESERVATION TECHNOLOGY, not an ingredient that happens to be dried, and it underwrote both Tiwanaku and the Inca state.

Atlas — where and when

Communities and languages

Languages: Aymara, South Bolivian Quechua

What is recorded

  • Chuño and tunta are produced by repeated freeze-thaw cycles using high-altitude night frost and day sun, with treading to expel water and, for tunta, washing under cold running water. The process makes potatoes storable for years and detoxifies bitter high-altitude varieties. It is recorded as preservation technology underwriting highland settlement rather than as a dried ingredient. documented

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Recipes

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