Chuño: freeze-dried potatoes centuries before the lab version (Andean altiplano; found at Tiwanaku; Inca use by the 13th century)
Record: the document says itPattern: documents line upLens: our readingOpen: not yet proven
Year: 1890 · Places: South America
SUMMARYChuño: freeze-dried potatoes centuries before the lab version (Andean altiplano; found at Tiwanaku; Inca use by the 13th century) [Connections: Tech of the Americas, Nov 5, 2026]
RECORDWikipedia ("Chuño"): potatoes are left to freeze at night and dry in the day sun for about three nights; "This process results in natural freeze-drying," and the product "can last for a very long time, sometimes decades." Chuño has been "found at Tiwanaku." Wikipedia ("Freeze-drying"): "The Inca were freeze drying potatoes into chuño since the 13th century," while "Modern freeze drying began as early as 1890 by Richard Altmann," and World War II made it commercial
PATTERNFood preservation using altitude, frost and sun as the machine
LENS (WW9)Our ancestors ran a freeze-dryer powered by the mountain
OPENFirm dates for chuño at Tiwanaku. Wikipedia notes the Andean method lacks the vacuum step of modern freeze-drying; say "natural freeze-drying."