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Roots and tubers from Peru

Moraya (Andean white chuño soaked in still water)moraya

Moraya is dried potato made by freezing and then soaking in semi-stagnant water, as the 2007 Peruvian Indecopi norm defines it, in a process similar to tunta. In the Bolivian Aymara account, muraya means tubers that develop a fermented odour after long submersion in water. No study we found names microbes in it, so the fermentation is only reported, not shown.

DocumentedRoots and tubers20 days – 30 days

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedField practice with no fixed amounts.
Bitter potatoesFrozen, thawed and trampled first, as for chuño[valdivieso2026]
WaterSemi-stagnant water for moraya, running river water for tunta (Peruvian norm as reported by Agraria)[ramos2019]
Starterspontaneous (reported, not shown)

Total time across the recorded steps: 20 days – 30 days

Start
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-16–-1 °C

What changes: Potatoes freeze outdoors at night, thaw by day and are trampled

Step 1 of 4
Freeze outdoors at night, thaw by day and trample
Time
Not documented
Temperature
-16–-1 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: frozen, pressed tubers.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

none; ice breaks the cells

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Moraya is dried potato made by freezing and then soaking in semi-stagnant water, as the 2007 Peruvian Indecopi norm defines it, in a process similar to tunta. In the Bolivian Aymara account, muraya means tubers that develop a fermented odour after long submersion in water. No study we found names microbes in it, so the fermentation is only reported, not shown. Made in 4 steps over 20 days – 30 days. The longest step, soak in semi-stagnant water for weeks, takes 20–30 days (Valdivieso F 2026). Not identified. Muraya is described by its fermented smell after long soaking; no microbes were measured. does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step20–30 daysReported[valdivieso2026]Soak in semi-stagnant water for weeks
Temperature-16–-1 °CReported[valdivieso2026]Freeze outdoors at night, thaw by day and trample

What makes this one different

The Peruvian norm separates moraya from tunta by its water. Tunta is soaked in running river water, and moraya in semi-stagnant water. The Aymara account separately describes a household tunta variant soaked in still water that comes out darker and lead-grey; it does not call that product muraya.

Related ferments

Safety

Soaking leaches part of the bitter glycoalkaloids from bitter potatoes; no microbial study we read shows fermentation. These glycoalkaloids are toxic. An intake of 1 mg per kg of body weight or more can bring on vomiting and diarrhoea, and boiling peeled potatoes removes only 5–65 % (EFSA 2020). No source read measures them in finished moraya.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The Peruvian Indecopi technical norm of 2007 on dried potato defines moraya as a white-brown dried tuber made by a process similar to tunta in semi-stagnant water, alongside tunta, tuntilla, chuño, lojota and khachu-chuño (as reported by Agraria.pe in 2019). A 2026 ethnobotanical survey of Aymara food plants in Bolivia records muraya as potato that smells fermented after long submersion.

  1. [cocarico2026] Cocarico S., Rivera D., Beck S., Rivera-Obón D.J., Obón C. 2026, From tradition to nutrition, wild and cultivated Aymara food plants as sustainable resources in the Andean neotropics of Bolivia, Frontiers in Nutrition, doi:10.3389/fnut.2026.1826362paper
  2. [valdivieso2026] Valdivieso F., Vila J.L., Mollinedo P., Apaza Ticona L. 2026, Structural and functional effects of traditional chuño processing on potato starch (Solanum spp.), Foods 15(12):2180paper
  3. [efsa2020] EFSA CONTAM Panel 2020, Risk assessment of glycoalkaloids in feed and food, in particular in potatoes and potato-derived products, EFSA Journal 18(8):e06222gov
  4. [ramos2019] Ramos E. 2019, Actualidad de la entrañable tunta (o chuño), Agraria.pe, 10 June (reports the 2007 Indecopi technical norm definitions of tunta, moraya and chuño)web