In the long Inca realm that stretched from north to south there was a great variety of different climate zones. In Peru in particular, the mountain ranges provide highly varied types of growing zones at different altitudes. The staples of the Incas included various plants with edible tubers and roots like potato and sweet potato, in hundreds of varieties. There was also oca, which came in two varieties, one sweet and one bitter. The sweet variety could be eaten raw or preserved and was used as a sweetener before the arrival of sugar. The insipid, starchy root ullucu and arracacha, something like a cross between carrot and celery were, like potatoes, used in stews and soups. Achira, a species of Canna, was a sweet, starchy root that was baked in earth ovens. Since it had to be transported up to the power center of Cuzco it is considered to have been food eaten as part of a tradition. Though the roots and tubers provided the staples of the Inca, they were still considered lower in rank than maize.
Several species of seaweed were part of the Inca diet and could be eaten fresh or dried. Some freshwater algae and blue algae of the genus Nostoc were eaten raw or processed for storage. In post-colonial times it has been used to make a dessert by boiling it in sugar. Pepino, a refreshing and thirst-quenching fruit that was eaten by common folk but scorned by "pampered folk" and were considered difficult to digest.
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