From Peruvian farmers to your cup.
We are a Peruvian, New Zealand and Australian family business with our hearts in many homes. Every year we return to the Andes and the Amazon to work hand in hand with the farming families who grow our maca and cacao, sharing their land, their ceremonies and the knowledge passed down through generations. Together we preserve this ancestral wisdom and fuse it with modern science, so it can help you reconnect with your food, with nature and with your own health.
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Plenty of brands say they work directly with farmers, yet most have never even visited their farms. As a company with indigenous roots, we actually go there. Every year we spend time in Peru on the farms, joining our farmers at harvest and learning their ancestral traditions first-hand. They aren't suppliers to us, they're friends we know by name, and every product we make is 100% traceable to the tree.
Our plant medicine research programme starts with the biochemistry, mapping the macamides in Peruvian maca and the active metabolites in ancestral cacao to substantiate their traditional uses. Through our partnership with the University of Otago, our Bean to Brain project explores cacao and mental health, while our maca research investigates maca and the endocannabinoid system.
We run workshops and events across South East Queensland and Northern NSW, weekly classes on the Gold Coast, online courses and retreats in Peru. We share the ancestral traditions of these plants and the neuroscience behind them, so people can truly understand the plants and manage their own health more effectively.
The people who grow and craft what we share with you.
Maca experts who grow premium medicinal maca using ancestral organic farming techniques. They are among the few traditional farmers in Peru who still keep the ancient spiritual practices surrounding maca, and every batch is made with love, care and intention.
Watch on YouTube ↗Arturo grows our Shansho cacao in rich organic agroforestry in the Ucayali region of the Peruvian Amazon, alongside fellow farmer Hugo. His cacao is a unique ancestral variety known as Purus, native to the Shipibo tribes of the region, and it is washed rather than fermented to help preserve its key bioactive compounds.
Watch on YouTube ↗How our new Shansho cacao is made: a rare Purus variety from the Peruvian Amazon, washed rather than fermented and gently processed to keep its natural compounds intact.
Watch on YouTube ↗Raised in Jaén, northern Peru, the birthplace of cacao, Arturo crafts ancestral cacao on his farm near Tarapoto. His cacao is an ancestral blend descended from the Marañón variety. He named it Uturunku, the jaguar, in honour of the Chavín tribe and their Temple of the Jaguar.
Watch on YouTube ↗Rolando's farm is in Tocache, San Martín, the land of the Kichwa, where he grows Criollo cacao, a native variety of the region. He is preserving ancestral traditions and pioneering the return of organic, fair-traded cacao in an area once heavily affected by the illegal cocaine industry.
Watch on YouTube ↗For over 56 years Juan Alonso has hand-crafted molinillos, traditional wooden cacao whisks, in Santa María del Rayón, Mexico. Like his father and grandfather before him, he and his sons keep this ancient cacao tradition alive.
Watch on YouTube ↗Husband and wife Corin, from New Zealand, and Sally, from Peru, share a mission to fuse ancestral wisdom with modern science. Both left their corporate careers to create a social enterprise that brings credibility, authenticity, reverence and connection to the natural health industry.
Watch on YouTube ↗A family business between Peru, New Zealand and the Gold Coast.
Co-founders
Originally from New Zealand, Corin is a medicinal chemist, researcher, husband to Sally, father of two young girls and co-founder of Seleno Health. With over 25 years of academic and industry experience, including a PhD in medicinal chemistry from the University of Melbourne, Corin specialises in the neurochemistry of cacao, maca and other Andean plant medicines.
He co-supervises the University of Otago's Bean to Brain cacao research project and leads our maca research, mapping the bioactive compounds and effects of Andean and Amazonian plant medicines. He works at the intersection of the mind-body connection, neuroscience and ancestral plant wisdom.
Having overcome chronic fatigue syndrome himself through an integrative approach, Corin leads immersive retreats in Peru and teaches workshops on neuroplasticity, the gut-brain axis, biohacking and conscious living.
Originally from Peru, Sally is a mother of two young girls, wife to Corin, industrial engineer, cacao researcher, facilitator and co-founder of Seleno Health. Her work carries plant medicines like cacao and maca beyond their Western packaging and back to their roots, honouring the knowledge, tools and hands that have carried them for generations.
Sally co-supports the University of Otago's Bean to Brain PhD research programme, exploring cacao's potential to support mood, and how genetic varieties and traditional preparation shape the effects of these plants.
Through traditional preparation, story and the rhythms of the feminine, Sally creates grounded, heart-led spaces where people can slow down, remember and come home to balance.
Seleno Health Australia
New Zealand born and now on the Gold Coast, Gavin brought Seleno Health to Australia in 2020. With a background in business management and 15 years as a commercial airline pilot, he found his passion in the Peruvian master plants after they transformed his own health. He is also a 5th-generation Wu Style Tai Chi instructor and teaches Tai Chi and Qi Gong on the Gold Coast.
Born in South Africa and a Gold Coast local for twenty years. Jane believes trust, not hard selling, builds lasting relationships: listening actively, answering honestly and recommending with genuine care.
Our maca and cacao come from indigenous farming families in the Peruvian Andes and Amazon. We work with them directly, following their ancestral methods, and give back through our social responsibility programme.
Our social responsibility ↗Stories from the source.
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