Did you know the Incas invented freeze-dried instant potatoes? [View all]

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.
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Potatoes are native to the Andes, where they have been grown for thousands of years. However, fresh potatoes spoil easily, rotting within a week in warm climates, while some varieties are bitter and toxic if not processed beforehand.

To deal with this dilemma, the ancient Andeans developed chuño, a freeze-dried potato made by exposing potatoes to extreme mountain winter-night frosts, then thawing them in the intense daytime sun.

After repeating this cycle, the potatoes are trampled and dried, producing black chuño. White chuño, found at Tambo Viejo, is made from naturally toxic, bitter potatoes and requires soaking for several weeks after freezing, then drying. The result is light, convenient chuño that can be stored for years.