The olluco is a tuber which belongs to the family of basellacées, its scientific name is Ullucus tuberosus caldas.
The fruits can be elongated or rounded, they can also be curved.
In Quechua and Aymara it is called ullucu or ulluma, in English melloco or ulluco, and in Spanish it is called melloco, olluco, ulluco, rubas, blonde, ruba, tiquiño, mucuchi, michurui muguri, ground shrimp, ruhuas, hubas, chugas, chigua, ulluca, ulluma or smooth potato.
 
Olluco is a good source of carbohydrates, but they are generally low in protein. They have a high content of vitamin C. They contain gum, but no fat and almost no fiber.
The olluco has a wide range of culinary uses, mainly for its use they are boiled, shredded, shredded, ground or baked.
With the olluco you can prepare various dishes such as melloco soup, olluquito with jerky (dried and salted meat) and creamy potato chili.
The olluco was domesticated by the ancient Peruvians.