Junín, Perú, is the historical centre of origin and centre of maca production today. Situated at 4,100 metres above sea level, this is a cold region with an austere landscape, where little else of value can grow.
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| Vicuñas |
The highway runs directly through the town
of Junín, passing through barren grasslands dotted with grazing vicuñas (an elegant wild relative of
alpacas) before entering a strip of roadside restaurants, snack stands, gas
stations, and industrial buildings. One
can stop at a dozen places to buy a warm jugo de maca, a blend of dried
maca roots stewed with apples and honey and blended to a thick nectar, or
especial de maca, a thick blended concoction with the texture of a smoothie,
alongside the only other regional speciality, a substantial round of salty,
feta-like cheese made from unpasteurized cow’s milk.
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| My partner Tim drinking a warm jugo de maca on the roadside in Junín |
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| Signs advertising maca drinks along the highway |
But the true connoisseur knows that the place for refreshment is at the far end of the carretera (highway), one of the last establishments before the road continues on through vistas of alpine lagoons and towering mountaintops towards the mining city of Cerro de Pasco. The pink building bears the name of the shop as well as its proprietor, painted in artistic lettering alongside illustrations of the produce in which it specialises: papaya and maca. “La Papayita” is the oldest maca juice establishment and, for many travellers, the best.
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| The outside of La Papayita |
If the door is unlocked, then Timotea
Cordova is in the shop, or at least at home.
She lives in the rear rooms of the same aged building, and her rocking
chair is strategically situated between the shop and house sections so that she
can simultaneously knit and keep an eye on the road. If she doesn’t greet her customer at the
door, she is only a good holler away, and she’ll bustle amiably to her station
behind the blender to fix her famous beverage for any caller. Her drink is called “especial de maca” and the
main ingredient is, naturally, that distinctive earthy-sweet root of the
region. She uses dried maca roots that
have been soaked overnight in water, which sit in a large glass jar on a simple
table. Lined up next to the maca are the other ingredients for the drink, ready
to assemble: fresh papaya, raw egg, milk, raw sugar, and a carob syrup called algarrobina. They all go into the blender for about a
minute, and the thick, nutritious concoction, faintly reminiscent of a peanut
butter smoothie, is poured into tall glasses.
Seconds are always offered.
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| The original especial de maca at La Papayita |
Timotea has been nourishing customers with
her “especial de maca” since 1942, when she opened her first maca juice shop in
the larger nearby city of La Oroya. In 1952,
when she married her husband who worked for a mining company in the central
highlands, she relocated both herself and her business to Junín. She proudly displays a certificate
recognizing her work promoting maca as an important contribution to the
economic development of Junín, signed by local government officials, alongside 30
or so other certificates honoring her life’s achievements. According to her own accounting, she was the
only one selling maca when she started.
But she had aways consumed this root, which her family had been growing
for their own consumption as long as anyone could remember. Her grandmothers taught her how to grow and
dry the maca roots, then soak them in water and make a nutritious drink or
porridge. But in those days, she says,
they had to mash it by hand with a wooden dowel. Her bright eyes sparkle mischieviously and
her smooth cheekbones spread into a grin as she announces that she’s now 88
years old and still full of energy – thanks to her daily consumption of maca
her whole life, she explains.
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| Timotea behind the counter at La Papayita |
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