FOOD NEWS
The Rare Potato With Meat-Like Flesh
By Chandler Phillips
Potato domestication can be traced back to around 7000 B.C.E., starting in the Andean region of South America in the highlands of Peru and Bolivia, with Peru currently boasting the largest selection of potato biodiversity in the world. Among the many native tubers in the region, the yawar potato is a rare, unique type unlike any other.
This superfood is typically long with dark burgundy skin and flesh so eerily similar to a fresh wound that it gets its name from the Quecha word for blood. Its flavor profile is slightly acidic due to its high zinc, iron, vitamins, and minerals content, and its floury consistency makes it ideal for soups and stews.
Among the varieties of Peruvian potatoes, the Yawar Manto has higher amounts of antioxidant compounds than other tubers. World-renowned chef and gastronomy pioneer Gaston Acurio is a strong advocate for the significance they hold to the farmers who grow heirloom crops, saying the yawar is one of the "jewels of Peru's biodiversity."