Maca Harvest Season in Peru: How Organic Maca Root Powder Is Made

The wind on the Junín plateau has a sound, a dry hiss through the ichu grass. It is June, the sky is a hard, cloudless blue, and a family is working a field in a line, lifting fist-sized roots out of black soil with short hand tools. By noon the roots lie in neat rows on the ground, cream, rose and charcoal, starting a weeks-long sunbath that will turn them into the powder in your kitchen.

The short answer: Organic maca root powder starts as a root vegetable grown on Peru's high Andean plateau at around 4,000 metres. In a typical year it is planted at the start of the rains (roughly September to November), harvested in the dry season (roughly May to July), sun-dried in the open air for several weeks, then cleaned and milled into raw powder. Our USDA Organic Maca Powder, Red Maca Powder and Black Maca Powder are raw, one-ingredient powders, 16 oz with about 91 servings each.

Where does maca grow in Peru?

Maca is one of the few crops that grows on the puna, the high grassland of the central Andes, around the departments of Junín and Pasco. Days can be bright and warm; nights drop below freezing. Llamas and alpacas graze between fields, and the nearest tree may be a long walk away. Families here have grown maca for generations, and it still shows up in local kitchens in porridges, juices and sweets.

When is maca harvest season?

Timing shifts with altitude and weather, but a common rhythm looks like this:

A field usually rests for years after a maca crop before it is planted again.

How are maca roots dried?

Picture a hillside covered in small, wrinkling roots. In the traditional method they lie on the ground or on tarps, baking in high-altitude sun by day and freezing by night. Over the weeks they shrink and harden until they knock together like river stones. That slow, natural drying is what gives maca its malty, caramel-like aroma.

How is maca root powder made after drying?

1. Sorting. Roots are graded by size and skin color: yellow, red, black.
2. Cleaning. Soil and stones are removed.
3. Milling. Dried roots are ground into a fine, sandy-beige powder.
4. Testing and packing. Powder is checked and sealed into bags.

Raw powder stops there: nothing is cooked or concentrated. Extracts, like our black maca capsules, are concentrated further; learn more in what 50:1 means.

What happens when the powder reaches your kitchen?

Thousands of kilometres from the puna, the last step is the simplest: a spoonful in a blender. Here is how one creator uses our raw black maca powder.

Want exact amounts? See our raw black maca powder recipes or the red maca morning ritual.

What should you check on a bag of organic maca root powder?

• Organic certification (look for the USDA Organic seal)
• Origin: Peru, stated plainly
• Raw powder or extract: the label should say which; extracts list a ratio such as 50:1
• One ingredient: maca root and nothing else
• Servings and serving size: ours is 1 tsp (5 g), about 91 per 16 oz bag
• Color type: single color, or a blend like our tri-color (~60% yellow, 20% red, 20% black)

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These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.