Farm to Table: How Our Maca Root Reaches You

The Maca Team offers a wide variety of maca root products, from raw maca root powder to gelatinized maca root chips, the closest thing you’ll get to whole maca root straight from Peru. Whether you’re purchasing our liquid maca extract or maca root capsules, you’re getting the freshest organic, Peruvian-grown maca root products available. That’s a promise we’ve made to our buyers, and it means a lot to us. So how do we keep it? Let’s look at how our non-GMO, Fair Trade maca root is grown and how it’s processed before it makes it to you. 

The Best Maca Root is Grown in Peru

Maca root originates in the Peruvian Andes, where it grows in some of the highest, most inhospitable altitudes in the world. It was likely domesticated in the present-day Junin Plateau area some 1,300-2,000 years ago, and was written of by Spanish chronicler Cieza de Leon during the conquest of Peru in 1553.

If you paid attention in your high school history classes, you might remember that farming can be hard on the land. Maca is no exception. Maca derives a lot of its incredible nutritional value from the soil in which it grows, so the fields must be rotated frequently to allow for rest periods of up to ten years between harvests.

Though maca has been grown with limited success in other parts of the world and even imitated in labs, it’s only in these Peruvian fields it’s called home for centuries that it receives both the climate and care it requires to truly thrive. The high altitude and the specific amount of precipitation produced by proximity to Lake Junin are why our maca is so potent. It also helps that it’s being tended by a local co-op of family farmers who treat the land as respectfully as their ancestors have for centuries before them.

How Maca is Processed

Because it grows in harsh, windy, and cold conditions, maca grows low to the ground and has to be watched closely as it develops. Timing is key. Maca roots take about nine months to fully mature, during which they’re observed carefully by expert farmers to ensure that the right window for harvesting isn’t missed.

Maca can be eaten fresh, but most commonly it’s dried immediately after being harvested. Our maca root is either sundried over 15-40 days in the case of our raw maca products, or dried in large low-temperature dehydrators at a processing plant for our premium maca products. Each method has some impact on the resulting maca powder - sundried raw maca is higher in macaenes and macamides, the nutrients linked to hormone health, while dehydrated premium maca has a higher percentage of glucosinolates, which have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties.

Your Maca Root

It’s important to us that the maca you receive is as fresh as possible. Once the roots are ready to be made into powder, they’re sorted, cleaned, and ground before being inspected both manually and by machine to make sure the powder is free of any debris it might have picked up during processing. Our maca is only kept in food-grade packaging, and since it’s harvested in small batches you can be sure you’ll get the most out of its shelf life. We always want you to know exactly what you’re getting when you purchase a product from The Maca Team - and in most cases, it’s nothing but 100% pure maca root.

Our Maca Promise

We’ve formed long-standing relationships with family-owned farming communities and processing plants in Peru to ensure that our products are being handled ethically and organically every step of the way. The Maca Team is a family-run company of true Maca specialists here to bring you the most Maca has to offer. We are passionate about sharing high-quality Peruvian grown Maca with the world and proud to offer the best selection of maca products anywhere. Our products are always organically grown, fairly traded, non-GMO, gluten-free, fresh, and potent.

If you have any more questions about our maca, we’d love to hear them! Don’t hesitate to Contact Us using our web form, or call us toll-free at (888) 919-8616.

Enjoy the day!