If you’re racking your brain for a last minute sexy (and totally unique) surprise, here’s a great idea for you: Add a little love brew to your romantic evening. Oh la la!
Let’s talk about a few herbs to get you and your lover (or hopeful lover) in the mood. Then we’ll give you an easy recipe for a love potion that you can make with your sweetie on the big day (if you’re the DIY-together type) or make ahead of time and share it before lovemaking. Let’s call it our “Concoction de l’Amour.”
What Makes an Herb a Passion Igniting Herb?
As a general rule, herbs and spices that smell good to you will help move you into a sexy state of mind because the olfactory (smell) system is closely tied to our sense of memory.
We’re also looking for herbs that that relax and nourish, and herbs that are demulcent (the herbal term for ‘juicy’).
Some of these herbal helpers can be found around your home while others can be found at your local herb shop or online at Mountain Rose Herbs. You can use these (and other) sensual herbs to get yourself into what herbalists call a “demulcent situation” (and then we giggle wildly like children).
6 Passionate Herbs to Light Your Fire
1. Vanilla
Vanilla has been associated with love for the entirety of its existence. The lore behind vanilla starts with the ancient Totonaco Indians of Mexico, who believed that vanilla was born when a royal goddess fell in love with a commoner and when her father forbade their union, they ran away together. When they were found they were killed, and where their blood touched the earth, the vanilla orchid was born.
Besides this beautiful (albeit sad) story, vanilla oil has long been used for vitality – which is, of course, great for love.
2. Cinnamon
It’s probably in your cupboard right now, but did you know that cinnamon is an awesome love herb? Cinnamon smells warm and wonderful, it’s demulcent and it warms you all the way to the fingertips and toes.
It’s really hard to be in a bad mood when you’re feeling warm and juicy, so we’re totally adding this herbal friend to our concoction!
3. Cacao
Cacao is one of the most adulterated delectables in our world and that’s partially because it’s one of the best passion igniters we have. Ever wonder why we give chocolate as a gift to our valentine? In its pure form, cacao supports the heart, has a small (healthy) amount of caffeine, and is loaded with antioxidants. In other words, it stimulates our pleasure, opens our hearts, and gives us a boost of energy – the delicious taste is an added bonus. Oh baby.
4. Damiana
This one’s a classic for all things love and sex. This is one of those sensual herbs that elevates mood, balances, and calms. A perfect balance for putting you in the mood for love making.
5. Shatavari
Shatavari literally means “she who has 100 husbands,” so that’s pretty indicative of a love herb. If you want a fun herbal adventure, read the amazon reviews for shatavari, it will blow you away. Shatavari is considered the feminine ashwagandha when it comes to lovemaking and is typically used for women in all stages of life. Both men and women will benefit from the nourishing and rejuvenating aspect of shatavari as well as the overall calming and juicy quality just in time for love.
6. Rose
Rose is another classic love herb. It’s used to woo partners, uplift the spirit, and protect the heart while letting its beauty shine through. We won’t add it to our love potion because rose is so wonderful on it’s own and you can find roses everywhere right now for the holiday. Sprinkle the petals in your bathtub, add a few petals to your water with dinner (I like to make dark chocolate brownies with rosewater, vanilla, and cinnamon – talk about love brownies), or just give a rose to your Valentine. Be creative!
Concoction de l’Amour:
Now that we know about our herbal lovers, lets get our love brew going! This makes about 6 total cups and the brandy at 20% preserves the potion and it only gets better with age, I like to think of it as a gift that keeps on giving!
Ingredients:
- .5 oz cinnamon
- .5 oz cacao (nibs or powder)
- .5 oz damiana
- .5 oz shatavari
- 1 seed pod of vanilla, sliced
- 2 cup raw honey
- 2 cup Brandy at 80 proof (40%)
- 4 cup water
Directions:
- Put all your herbs into a pan, cover them with water. Simmer for about an hour, or until you have about two cups of the herb-infused water.
Note: There are a lot of ways to do this step. Some devotees put their herbs in a mostly-covered crock pot for about 24 hours, 12 hours on high and 12 hours on low. It’s all about what you have time for but the longer steep does yield a more powerful herbal concoction. - Strain your herb out of the water and pour into a bowl.
- Add honey, and stir until honey is melted. You don’t want to add honey when the water is too hot but make sure that the water is hot enough to melt the honey.
- Add the brandy to your mixture
Voila! Your Concoction de l’Amour is finished <3
Which herbs do you use to get in the mood? Tell us in the comments below!
by Aubrey Wallace, Resident Herbal Scholar
Instead of the cups of water can we make this into an oil ??
How much of this are you supposed to drink?
Hey Mike!
This drink is considered a cordial, so we would recommend treating it like you would treat any other strong spirit 🙂 Aubrey recommends taking it slow and starting with .5-1 fluid oz
xo- Michon
ASC Customer Happiness Team
Where can I get Damiana from I am in south africa and it seems to be baned, can anyone help me. Thank you.
The first 4 ingredients that read .5 oz how much is that?
Where do you get organic drinkable glyceride?
Thank you!
For this recipe, we use the weights because the herbs all have different densities. It also depends on how old your herb is, how it was dried, etc. A kitchen scale would be really helpful here, and they’re not too expensive. You could also ask for .5 ounces measurements of these ingredients when you purchase them from the herb store. 🙂
But if you want to just do a tablespoon of each herb, that would work fine. 🙂 Just make sure you can smell the herbs individually (one doesn’t overpower the whole mixture).
For the glyceride, you can get it from Mountain Rose Herbs (https://www.annmariegianni.com/mountainroseherbs).
for us sober folks, will this still work without the brandy?
Hi there! You can use glyceride, or just omit the alcohol, but know that without the alcohol, your potion won’t be preserved and will need to be refrigerated and used quickly.