Like most present day Latin Americans, the Incas and their ancestors depended on beans for much of their nourishment. The problem was that for people living high in the mountains cooking beans was a problem.  Two factors combine to create this problem. Often there is little wood available for fires and, water boils at that such a low temperature in higher altitudes that they couldn't cook most beans.  To circumvent that, the Incas used a remarkable bean know as the Nuna (pronounced noon-ya). They are surprisingly unknown outside the Andes.

Nunas are a type of bean you might think of as a counter part of popcorn.  Heated with a little oil, numas burst out of their seed coats. The effect is less dramatic than popcorn- nunas don't fly up in the air- they open like butterflies spreading their wings.  The result is a soft bean that tastes somewhat like roasted peanuts. Nunas come in many colors and patterns like white, red, and black spotted. During cooking, the heat and moisture inside the bean build up steam which escapes by bursting out.

These beans are grown in higher altitudes from Ecuador to southern Peru, usually for home consumption. Researchers such as Professor Jim Myers who helped develop the black tomato, Indigo Rose recently at Oregon State's Research Farm in Corvallis, has been growing and improving this bean for years. The researchers feel this new variety of bean could be an very important source of high protein for developing countries not just in high altitudes, a tasty snack for industrialized nations, and a wonderful way for regions to improve their soil with this nitrogen-fixing plant. Unfortunately a large corporation purchased the patent on these beans and progress on this dream was put on hold for many years. Nunas are closely related to the cancha bean or "CornNuts".