Folk healing is the most ancient form of medicine. It sprung from common kitchen ingredients — when humans realized that spices, herbs, and foods not only provide nutrition but could help us overcome illness.

India’s medical system depends on the roughly 2 million folk healers to provide medical care in villages far from hospitals and health centers. They use more than 6,500 medicinal plants.

G. Hariramamurthi, a folk medicine expert, has traveled throughout India over the past three decades, visiting more than 12,000 villages. He helps folk healers document their medical practices and treatments, most recently for prevention of Covid-19. In this episode, Hari addresses a question posed to many folk healers: do folk remedies really work?