What makes a food appropriate for Valentine’s day (also known in Latin America as the day of love and friendship)?
It makes sense to me that foods known as aphrodisiacs or which promote the production of oxytocin, our bonding hormone, would be a good start. Dubbed “the love hormone”, many of us are currently depleted in oxytocin, which is produced when we experience positive social interactions and pleasant physical touch. (While the recipe makes enough for sharing, folks in isolation might need it too!)
Many foods long considered to be aphrodisiacs supply nutrients that improve fertility and support sexual health, or that support our production of oxytocin. When it comes to romance, we want to open our hearts, lower our stress so that we can enjoy ourselves, and dilate or relax our blood vessels.
Here is a recipe to keep your vessels open and relaxed, and your oxytocin levels up. It contains good fats to support hormone production, supplies magnesium for oxytocin production, and provides the amino acids needed to make feel-good chemicals like serotonin and anandamide (known as “the bliss molecule”). It also contains beets, precursors to nitric oxide.
Nitric oxide is an essential molecule that improves your circulation. When you’re aroused, your brain will send a signal to promote nitric oxide-mediated vasodilation of the blood vessels supplying all of your intimate organs. Nitric oxide relaxes and opens blood vessels, allowing more oxygen to get to your tissues, boost cellular energy, and enhance stamina.
Beet crystals taste great, adding natural sweetness and saltiness to the recipe, and more importantly, they are the best way to be sure your mousse is silky smooth. (I have a real struggle making beet puree that is smooth enough for use in mousse!). Beet juice crystals like Flora’s mix instantly and contain only 100% organic vacuum dehydrated beet juice.
To make this a true mousse, one more decadent than your everyday healthy avocado-chocolate pudding, make it smooth and light. I highly recommend you stick to the Red Beet Crystals I am using here. Not only are they quick and convenient, they’re great-tasting.
Taking your time to taste your mousse and relax while you eat not only helps you get into the right head space for a pleasant evening, it helps to activate the nitric oxide.
Enjoy your day of love and friendship!
Ingredients
- 2 Medium avocado, ripe green flesh only
- ½ Lime, juice and zest
- 1/4 cup Cream or milk of choice (we used a 10.5% fat oat/coconut cream blend)
- 1/3 cup Red Beet Crystals
- 1/4 cup Cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup Melted semi-sweet chocolate (we used 71% cacao chips, about 1/3 cup before melting)
- 1/4 cup Pure maple syrup
- ¼ tsp Vanilla pod, scraped or Pure vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp Salt of choice
Instructions
- Starting with the liquid ingredients, add all ingredients to a blender or food processor and blend until completely smooth, stirring and scraping down sides as required. Taste and adjust – the sweeter your chocolate, the sweeter the recipe will be, and you may want to add more lime for acidity. Chill before serving.
Resources
Vascular effects of dietary nitrate (as found in green leafy vegetables and beetroot) via the nitrate-nitrite-nitric oxide pathway https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22882425/
The Potential Benefits of Red Beetroot Supplementation in Health and Disease https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4425174/259>
