7 Aphrodisiac Foods to Spice Up Your Valentine’s Menu

oystersAre you looking to spice up your Valentine's meal? Then you might want to add one, two, or three of these romantic foods to your menu! While some foods like chocolate and oysters are well known to be aphrodisiacs, we've compiled a few others that just might surprise you, like almonds and bananas. That's right - they're considered a "romantic" food too, and you can find them all, including suggested recipes using those high-powered ingredients, below!

1. Oysters
When you say aphrodisiac, oysters immediately come to mind. They're high in zinc and help rev up the libido. Serve up a platter or two to your Casanova.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
1/4 cup California walnut pieces, toasted
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
4 tbsp butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
2 cups spinach
2 tbsp sambuca or anise liqueur (optional)
24 oysters, shucked
Red pepper sauce
Lemon
Rock salt (optional)

Related: 14 savory recipes your vegan Valentine will love

Directions:
In a large, dry skillet over medium-high heat, toast walnuts, stirring occasionally, until lightly brown, about 1 to 2 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400°F.

For the walnut/panko mixture, combine panko, walnuts and parmesan in a small bowl; set aside.

In a small frying pan, heat butter over medium-low heat. Add garlic and sauté. Spoon out 2 tbsp and stir into the walnut/panko mixture.

Add shallot, spinach and anise liqueur to frying pan and sauté on high heat until spinach is wilted, about 3 minutes; remove and let cool slightly.

On a rimmed baking sheet, space oysters evenly. Top with 3 to 4 spinach leaves, a few drops of red pepper sauce and 2 tsp walnut/panko mixture.

Bake for 7 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Serve immediately with lemon wedges on a bed of rock salt.

Makes 6 servings.


Sweet and Sticky Honey Roasted Almonds
2. Almonds
Are you nuts for almonds? They've been a symbol of fertility for hundreds of years. Their smell is supposed to be very attractive to females ...
Make sweet and sticky honey roasted almonds

Related: 15 hilarious Valentine's Day cake fails


Banana Crepes
3. Bananas
Are you bananas for bananas? Besides being, ahem, shapely, they're packed with enzymes and minerals that are said to liven up the male libido.
Make banana crepes


Chocolate Lava Cake
4. Chocolate
Chocolate just makes us happy. Why? The short answer: it's a chemical thing. And if you nosh on the dark chocolate variety it's also high in antioxidants.
Check out these 7 chocolate lava cake recipes


Garlic
5. Garlic
Garlic? You'll want to keep the mints handy, but yes, garlic is full of allicin, which is said to increase blood flow. Not to mention it will ward off vampires, right?
Check out these 15 recipes for garlic lovers

Related: 28 heart-shaped foods for a Valentine's Day treat


Asparagus
6. Asparagus
These sexy spears are a great source of potassium, fiber and many vitamins. We think any of these 10 super sexy recipes will help get your heart racing.
Check out these 10 asparagus recipes


Honey
7. Honey
Sweet, sticky honey does a body good in more ways than one. Here's everything you wanted to know about that gooey goodness.
Learn more about the power of honey

- By Paula Jones

For 3 more aphrodisiac foods for your Valentine's menu, visit Babble!

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