Dr Corin Storkey, medicinal chemist and co-founder of Seleno Health, was a guest on ĀIO: a road to peace, the podcast hosted by Tarikura Kapea. Over the episode they talk about two plants at the heart of everything we do, maca and cacao, and how the knowledge of the Andean and Amazonian peoples who have grown them for thousands of years sits alongside what researchers are learning today.
What the conversation covers
- Corin's story: how a journey that began in the Peruvian jungle led a PhD chemist to work with indigenous farming families.
- Maca, a gateway to vitality: the energetics of maca in traditional Andean use, and why it has been valued as a food for strength and stamina.
- The history of cacao: its original name, ka-ka-wa, and the ceremonial role it has held for generations.
- Cacao farming in Peru: how the drug trade of the 1980s and 1990s disrupted traditional cacao growing, and how farming families have been rebuilding since.
- The science: what researchers are discovering about how compounds in cacao interact with the brain and body.
- Gentle approaches to wellbeing: building vitality slowly and sustainably, rather than looking for a quick fix.
Listen to the episode
Find Episode 32: Ancient Plant Wisdom of Maca and Cacao; Weaving Indigenous Wisdom & Scientific Research on the ĀIO podcast:
You can also search "ĀIO a road to peace" in Spotify or your favourite podcast app.
Explore the plants
Curious to try them for yourself? Our ancestral ceremonial cacao and Peruvian maca are sourced directly from farming families in Peru and shipped Australia-wide.
