page_title: List of pre-Columbian inventions and innovations of indigenous Americans
section_title: F
hierarchical_section_title: List of pre-Columbian inventions and innovations of indigenous Americans / F
caption_attribution_description: English: One of the most common methods of preserving potatoes in the high Andes is to freeze dry them outdoors. Solanum × juzepczukii hybrid or Solanum × curtilobum hybrid For sale at the small market in Paucartambo, Department of Cusco, Peru
context_page_description: This is an alphabetic list of Pre-columbian achievements in science and technology made by the Indigenous peoples of the Americas during the 15,000 years that they have inhabited the Americas.
context_section_description: Freeze-drying – the Andean civilizations learned to freeze dry potatoes (chuño) and other food items, so that the resultant dehydrated powder could be stored for years and then later transported across vast distances to feed countless hungry peoples. The Spanish conquistadors used this Andean invented freeze-drying technique to transport several tonnes of dehydrated potatoes across the Atlantic Ocean back to Europe to feed hungry Europeans.
caption: Chuño, a freeze dried potato
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