The plant is a hermaphrodite small plant with tiny flowers that produces a small pod (3 to 5 cm in diameter), bright green when young and dark brown when mature. The pod usually has 4 lobes – each one containing a seed of 15 to 20 mm wide and 7 to 8 mm thick. The weight of said seeds usually goes from 0.8 to 1.4 grams.
The plant was originally cultivated by the Incas in the Region of Junin, in a district called Pichanaqui, one of the best areas to grow this plant due to its excellent environmental conditions (soil, humidity, sun, etc.). The plant grows at 500 meters (1,650 ft) over sea level in a mountain hillside at the end of the Andes on the jungle side, in a place protected from excessive rain, floods and high winds. The soil is particularly special, soft and muddy, very rich in mineral content and nutrients.
Sacha Inchi is originally from the Amazon Rainforest, and what used to be a wild plant, now is cultivated widely in the Region becoming a sustainable source of income to many families of the area.
There are records that indicate that this plant was traditionally used by the “Chancas” as a food. The “Chancas” is an old civilization, well known as one of the most rebel and warrior of the region, was conquered by the Incas passing its knowledge of this amazing plant to the rest of the empire and the Inca itself, being the reason why the plant is known as the “Inca nut”.
