Food and Medicinal Uses of Ancestral Andean Grains in the Districts of Quinua and Acos Vinchos (Ayacucho-Peru).

Andean grains are key elements in the construction of family production systems. These seeds speak of the history of a people, their customs and ancestral knowledge. The general objective of the work was to evaluate the food use, crop management and traditional knowledge about the medicinal use of a...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Brita Anaya, Roberta, Cruz, Eusebio De la, Muñoz Centeno, Luz María, Cóndor, Reynán, León, Roxana, Carhuaz, Roxana
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2022
Country:España
Institution:Universidad de Salamanca (USAL)
Repository:GREDOS. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Salamanca
OAI Identifier:oai:gredos.usal.es:10366/155374
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10366/155374
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Chenopodium quinoaWilld (quinoa)
Amaranthus caudatus L. (achita)
Chenopodium pallidicaule Aellen (cañihua)
ethnobotany
Andean grains
food uses
medicinal uses
edaphic resilience and crops
Description
Summary:Andean grains are key elements in the construction of family production systems. These seeds speak of the history of a people, their customs and ancestral knowledge. The general objective of the work was to evaluate the food use, crop management and traditional knowledge about the medicinal use of ancestral Andean grains among the inhabitants of the districts of Quinua and Acos Vinchos (Ayacucho-Peru). Basic descriptive research, carried out by means of convenience sampling, the sample size determined by the Law of Diminishing Returns, after signing an informed consent form. Semi-structured individual interviews were applied to 96 informants. A total of 96.9% of the informants reported that they obtained quinoa grain from their own crops, and 24.0% obtained achita grain that they sowed directly on their land; no cañihua was cultivated. A total of 58.3% use quinoa and achita in their diet. The variability of the food use of ancestral grains, specifically quinoa and achita, constitute a natural source of vegetable protein of high nutritional value, which represents one of the main foods of the inhabitants of Quinua and Acos Vinchos. Traditional medicine derived from the ancestral knowledge of Andean grains is barely preserved, but this is not the case for other medicinal plants in the area, as this knowledge is still preserved.