Cusco Mara presents amaranth in 41 different colour tones at Food Matters live

The company Cusco Mara from Peru, which came into operation in 1987, will join Food Matters Live for the first time this year.

“Our experience in international trade shows has always been good, as we have learned from the other exhibitors and have won customers. Moreover, it is always a challenge to bring new products and maintain the innovation component,” said Adriana Valcárcel, founder and manager of the company.

Cusco Mara is dedicated to making products based on kiwicha, quinoa, kañiwa, corn, beans, among other foods. “This year we will bring colored kiwicha (beige, pink, black and brown). Our company has recovered more than 41 shades (ecotypes) of kiwicha,” explained Valcárcel.

“We have been doing this recovery work for more than 15 years in our experimental small-scale agricultural center, and some ecotypes are already on the market,” she added. In addition, this year, thanks to an agreement with the Faculty of Agronomy of the University of Hohenheim in Germany, Cusco Mara has been able to contact a master’s thesis (Engineer Meylin Terrel) to elaborate a research on colored kiwicha and demonstrate its nutritional and functional differences.

Among the international markets to which the company in Cusco (southeast of Peru) exports are Costa Rica, France and Germany. On the other hand, in the Peruvian market, Cusco Mara distributes its products in supermarkets Plaza Vea, Wong and Tottus, and in convenience stores and hotels. “At Food Matters Live 2017 we also seek to develop some new markets that we have been working on, like the UK, Ireland and North West Europe,” Valcárcel said.

The company has seven production lines and more than 30 products based on the Andean biodiversity of Cusco and the whole region. It also has a processing plant and a strategic alliance with more than 25 families of farmers from different basins of Cusco and the region who supply Cusco Mara with producer’s goods.