### ch05p154 freeze-dried potatoes became Incan currency > By night, potatoes were laid out on the ground to freeze. During the day the'd thaw out and would be trodden on, to squeeze out water. Then they'd left out to freeze again. After three or four days and nights the potaro ow the pc Eu freeze-dried potatoes. As well as were transformed into chuño dehydrating the tubers, this processing would also drive our glycoalkaloids from the chuño, making it less bitter than fresh potatoes. While domestication would have involved the selection of the most palatable potatoes cultivation- some potatoes remained a little too bitter. Another way of reducing bitterness was to eat the potatoes with clay, which binds to the glycoalkaloids. Around Lake Titicaca today, there are still some Aymara people who eat their potatoes this way. Perhaps even more importantly, making chuño transformed potatoes into a form that could be stored for extended periods, sometimes years. While the elite amongst agricultural societies in the Fertile Crescent grew wealthy amassing stores of wheat and herds of cattle, the Inca chiefs grew and fat on their stores of dried potatoes. Chunk became a currency in its own right. Peasants paid their taxes with it, and laborers and mercenaries were paid in it. #xref with [[2021-06-28 Food Preservation]] & the Romans paying soldiers in flour rations for bread making and using salt as currency. - [[Tamed by Alice Roberts#ch05p154 freeze-dried potatoes became Incan currency|View in Vault]]