Biodiversity

Three quarters of the cocoa beans Peru exports are fine or flavour cocoa. A map of the regions, the awards and the denomination of origin of Peruvian cacao.

Peru’s coast is a desert, yet its sea is one of the richest in the world. A cold current explains it all, and one small anchoveta moves a global market.

People say Peru is the cradle of the world’s food. We checked the data from the largest study on crop origins to see what is true.

Muña is an aromatic shrub of the mint family that grows in the Andes. We look at where it lives, how it is used in Andean kitchens and what studies say.

It only grows in areas that flood every year in the Peruvian Amazon. For decades, no one knew how to grow it anywhere else. We tell the story of camu camu.

Quinoa is, today, the most famous Andean grain in the world. We look at its genetic diversity, a little-known fact about its role in space research, and how Peru became its leading exporter.

Decades of agronomic research in Peru have documented the genetics and composition of Andean grains. We review, in an accessible way, what the science says and who has carried it out.

Andean superfoods did not become superfoods by chance. Behind their composition lies a concrete botanical explanation: the extreme conditions in which they grow. Here is the science behind this phenomenon.

In the Peruvian Andes grows a legume with a little-known secret: before it can be eaten, it must spend days soaking in water. We tell you the story of tarwi, its name, and its role in Andean agriculture.

In Peru’s high-Andean lagoons grows an ancestral food that few outside the country recognize: the cushuro. We tell you its origin, its many names, and why its future depends on learning to cultivate it.