Archeologists believe this conservation method was developed "probably during the Formative Period" from around 2,000 to 200 BC
A peasant steps on potatoes to begin the elaboration of chuno (dehydrated potato) in Machacamarca, Bolivia, on June 30, 2021. - From the Aymara word “ch'uñu”, this ancestral method of uncertain origin, also used in Peru, allows potatoes to be stored for decades without losing their nutritional properties: carbohydrates, fibre, vitamins and minerals
Image: Aizar Raldes / AFP
It's seven o'clock in the morning on Bolivia's altiplano, and through the morning fog is visible an uneven carpet of thousands of potatoes, spread out in front of a water tank near a house.
It's a common sight at farms in Machacamarca, a small village to the south of La Paz.