Rio de Nalca

If you ask a Santiaguino what Nalca is, chances are they won’t have a clue. But ask anybody from the south and they’re more likely to wonder why you don’t have a clue. The scientific name to nalca is Gunnera Tinctoria, otherwise known as the plant in Chile with humongous leaves. Some of my favorite areas of Chile are full of nalca everywhere. On the side of the highway, by the ocean, in the forests, as ornamental plants in front of houses… The long, bumpy nalca stalks are sold in wheelbarrels on the streets to be eaten as a snack or in a salad. It is a fibrous stalk like rhubarb with a bitter taste, an acquired taste that I have no preference for. However, I have learned that the better ones are more juicy, tender with a milder taste, whereas others are distinctly sour. Locals stop the car by the side of the road in order to pick nalca to eat, trying multiple stalks to get to one that is just perfect. Not exactly a common practice in Santiago.

One afternoon I was taken to a local beach to try the nalca and we passed a green stream, which initially I thought was algal bloom from farms up the road. However I was immediately corrected, being shown that what I believed was algae was in fact a “rio de nalca” or a river running of nalca seeds in water. Further up the stream the spherical seeds were glassy rose in color, producing a stream of natural gems through the bright green nalca fields. The foreigner is always impressed by the size of nalca plants, but I was fortunate enough to have been moved by its beauty in a different stage in its life cycle.

In certain zones nalca really are everywhere, but as a native plant it is largely welcome and does not seem to spread as a weed. However, in other parts of the world it is unsurprisingly invasive.  

I LOVE Nalca. It just always brings back good memories of my favorite places in Chile. 

Close-up of these amazing leaves

A cat taking a rest underneath the Nalca leaves 

The stalks are edible and often sold off of carts on street corners- however you will only find them this green fresh