Oca

For thousands of years, oca has been one of the great root crops of the Andes, grown by highland farmers alongside potatoes at elevations too cold and thin-aired for most other vegetables. Quechua and Aymara communities traditionally spread the freshly dug tubers on rooftops or stone terraces to sun-dry for days or weeks, a practice that mellows their tart bite and coaxes out a natural sweetness prized in Andean cooking. Oca was so central to highland survival that it ranked second only to the potato among Andean tuber crops, valued for keeping well through long mountain winters and for growing where little else would. Spanish colonial writers noted whole markets devoted to its many colorful varieties, a diversity that Andean growers still steward today.