We told you to take everything with a grain of salt—including us. If you disagree with the history, have a question about a formulation, or want to share what your own grandmother kept in her medicine cabinet, our inbox is open. Keep it honest.

The Incan empire used maca root as currency. Warriors ate it before battle — and had it deliberately withheld afterward, because the Incas already knew about its other documented effect on the human body. The first Spanish baby born in the Peruvian Highlands didn’t arrive until fifty years after the conquistadors, and the Spanish eventually demanded nine tons of maca annually as tribute. That’s the history your feed’s libido supplement list isn’t telling you.

This week, Alexandria Quinn Love, M.A. traces the real pre-industrial record on sexual health, drive, and performance — from Incan altitude medicine to Vajikarana, the dedicated sexual health branch of Ayurveda that the Charak Samhita named as one of three equal pillars of a healthy life. She covers what the tradition actually prescribed (it wasn’t a supplement protocol), addresses both sides of depleted drive with full dignity, examines the viral claims currently circulating about libido foods, and delivers a specific, safe, historically-grounded takeaway.

Also: the thing you were told when you were younger about diet and certain biological realities? Turns out it’s closer to true than the TikTok version. The timeline is just very different from what your feed is promising.

History first. Grain of salt always. The Incas were not selling supplements.

Ash & Honey: The Root and The Road is hosted by Alexandria Quinn Love, M.A. — historian, formulator, and founder of Ash & Honey Botanique.

Nothing on this show is medical advice. Talk to your licensed practitioner before making any health practice a regular part of your life.

Search Ash & Honey: The Root and The Road wherever you listen.

The road was always there. Someone always walked it. Now — so do you.