This versatile spice mixture is at the heart of the Mapuche culinary traditions and local economy. The Mapuches, or the “people of the land” in their language Mapudungun, are the indigenous inhabitants of Central and Southern Chile and Southern Argentina. Theirs is a matriarchal society with an agricultural-based economy in which the women traditionally oversaw the production of food, the dispensing of medicine, and the keeping of the family finances. The production of merken has historically been integral to all of these activities.

Merken is a mix of spices - Cacho de Cabra, or goat’s horn chile, coriander seed, and cumin - native to Mapuche land. This combination is used throughout Mapuche cuisine, which consists mostly of traditional grains such as wheat and quinoa, and local vegetables and potatoes (on the island of Chiloé there are over 280 varieties of native potatoes!) It adds an amazing amount of flavor, a touch of heat, and a whole lot of goodness to every dish (Cacho de Cabra chile has ten times the levels of vitamin C of any citric fruit.)

Each year the spices are harvested in the fall (the month of March in Chile), and carefully sorted to ensure consistent color and flavor. The raw products are cleaned and strung up into “ristras” or bunches. The chile and coriander go through an initial drying process over a fresh-cut wood fire for 10-15 days. Next, the stems are removed from the chiles – an extremely labor intensive process that defies automation and stings the eyes due to the release of gas upon de-stemming.

Next the chiles are toasted over an open flame – the amount of toasting varies greatly from family to family. The raw materials are milled and the final product is mixed according to each family’s special recipe, allowing for many variations of merken in the market. Historically, the small production quantities and lack of a uniform production process has made it very difficult for merken to reach a wider market, and for the Mapuche community to reap any significant economic gains from the production of this spice that is central to their lives.

In 2005, with the objective of finding creative ways to redevelop the economy of the Mapuche, the Catholic University of Temulco began studying the production and commercialization of merken. With funds from the government, the university gathered professors, biologists, agronomists and students to investigate the best cultivation methods, plant species, drying and production process, seed preservation, transition to organic cultivation, and market potential.

Every Mapuche family has a unique style for producing merken.The level of toasting and the amount and presence of cumin,coriander, and salt all vary according to each family’s traditional recipe. And over the years the quality ofseed stock available to each family has varied greatly. The University’s research and analysis were critical in creating a homogenous product from raw materials from manysmall producers.

In 2006, Chilean Gourmet approached the University with the goal of supporting local communities and culinary traditions by tapping into the international market. Their involvement encouraged the University to continue their work and the government to continue the funding. In partnership, they moved forward to produce a high quality merken with over 70 Mapuche families within fifteencommunities.

Initially, knowledge and education flowed from the Mapuche families to the University-based team. Now raw material is purchased from each Mapuche family to be processed by the University, while hands-on education and material analysis flows back to the families. The University has studied the DNA of each plant stock, and supplies the families with free seedlings each year to ensure the stock heritage and quality. The next phase calls for the creation of a small production plant in each community to allow the Mapuche families to create a higher quality more uniform product to sell at market. In addition, the University is working towards unified standards that will lead to a denomination of origin for the merken. All of these efforts will help open up the economic benefits to the over 500 families that live in this merken-producing zone.