Credited to Bolivia. Chuño is a shared tradition of the highlands of Bolivia and Peru. Sources place its origin in the Lake Titicaca region, which lies in both countries, and remains have been found at Tiwanaku in present-day Bolivia.
How it began
Chuño is made by Quechua and Aymara communities of Bolivia and Peru. A 2025 study in the journal Food Chemistry states that these preservation techniques were used during the Chiripa culture, which came before Tiwanaku, around 400 BCE, and that they are believed to have begun 2,000 to 3,000 years ago in the Lake Titicaca region, now within Bolivia and Peru. Remains of chuño have been found at Tiwanaku, which shows that the practice is older than the Inca Empire of the 13th century.
How it works
Chuño is made at the start of winter, in June and July, at elevations above about 3,800 meters, where nights fall to around minus 5 degrees Celsius. Small, bitter, frost-resistant potatoes are spread on flat ground to freeze at night and thaw in the strong daytime sun for about three nights. Freezing breaks down the cell walls. Families then trample the tubers to squeeze out the water and loosen the skins. For white chuño, called tunta in Bolivia, the potatoes are also washed before the final drying in the sun.
What changed first
The result is light, easy to carry and keeps for a very long time. Inca soldiers ate chuño on the march because of its portability, shelf life and food value. The Spanish chronicler José de Acosta described it in 1590. The geographer Carl Troll argued that the freezing nights of the southern highlands, which made chuño possible, favored the rise of the Inca Empire.
Where it stands today
The process is still carried out by extended families, who trample the frozen potatoes on flat areas known by the Aymara term chuñochinapampas. Chuño is known in Bolivia, Peru, Chile and northwestern Argentina. Scientists continue to study chuño and tunta, including their starch and its effects in the gut.
