The Cupertino Courier

Cover Story

Photograph by Vicki Thompson

Revered Herb: Besides being recognized as healthful, ginseng is also reputed to increase potency.

Love Potions

Putting the zing in Valentine's Day

By Stephen Baxter

Valentine's Day usually calls for a box of chocolates and some roses.

Eating chocolate releases serotonin and phenylethamine in the brain, triggering good sensations--which probably has helped chocolate garner a reputation as an aphrodisiac in many parts of the world. It also might explain why men began bringing the sweets to women in the first place. Include a well-chosen Valentine's Day card, and let the chocolate do its magic.

Just about everything you can eat, drink or rub on has been purported to be an aphrodisiac--from asparagus and oysters to carrots and maca root. Silicon Valley's diverse ethnic traditions, technological advances and openness to metaphysics have combined to offer a variety of foods and products aimed at enhancing romance. There are no guarantees, but here are some gifts available locally that might liven up your Valentine's Day.

Looking East

Chung Hsin Herbs is in the back of a mini-mall at 10925 N. Wolfe Road in Cupertino. It's a general Eastern medicine and food shop with an acupuncturist's office in the back.

Chi-gen Lee is taking his 91-year-old father to the acupuncturist. Looking at piles of ginseng, Lee says it might be just the thing to spice up Valentine's Day. He recommends the ugliest, most twisted root with the tightest rings. It's $53 a pound.

Ginseng is said to increase potency as well as overall health, and it can be steamed with rice, mixed with chicken soup or chewed raw.

A 3.5-ounce jar of fine ginseng powder ($98) from another shop comes with directions. "Mix two teaspoon ginseng powder in spoiling water, wait three minutes, then you can enjoy it."

Lee, 60, attests to its quality, but in what ancient corner of the world is this healing root grown?

Wisconsin, generally.

The state exported $9.1 million of it in the fiscal year that ended in September 2005, according to the Ginseng Board of Wisconsin. The stuff is so good, the Wisconsin ginseng seal of quality has actually been counterfeited and slapped on inferior Chinese roots.

"It's very, very revered in China," says Lori McGehee, a spokeswoman for the Ginseng Board of Wisconsin. "When you're over there, you could be in an elevator and they say, 'Where are you from?' and you say 'Wisconsin,' and they say 'Oh, where the ginseng comes from!' "

Holding the prized Midwestern root at the shop, Lee says healthy people don't need aphrodisiacs, just good habits.

Not far from the shop is Chung Chou City food and herb store, which sells a variety of pills, potions, roots and animal parts.

Chinese herbs such as the flaky white dong quai ($30 per pound) are fairly popular, a clerk says. They can be tossed in hot water or mixed with other dried plants.

Then there is the dried deer whip, or penis ($180), which can be made into soup or tea.

A shopper also recommends boiling the dried member of a sea lion.

Thanks, shopper.

Let's get metaphysical

Wearing an apron over an ankle length dress, Kelly Mountain shelves some essential oils in the whole body department of Whole Foods in Cupertino.

She says maca root powder ($18.95) has sold well, and the 7-ounce bottle is said to promote hair, bones, teeth and muscles. "I take it," she says, mixed with juice or a smoothie. It also has been described as Peru's natural Viagra.

Then there's Aura Cacia's Love Potion ($9.99). For an erotic massage oil, the instructions say to combine seven drops with each drop of sweet almond oil. Or it can make a provocative mist: Combine 18 drops of love potion with an ounce of water in a spray mister.

"It smells like Grandpa," says one woman after taking a whiff.

For women, Hot Plants For Her ($24.99) could work. It supports a "healthy sexual drive, function and pleasure in women." The Food and Drug Administration doesn't agree, the label warns.

Or, Mountain suggests, a few drops of Horny Goat Weed tincture--but it's out of stock. Perhaps some African Yohimbe extract ($12.37, 60 caplets) to "enhance man's libido," the label states.

Touch me

For Pauline Bemudes, who has owned Magical Moments in Sunnyvale since 1986, the sense of touch is key to female arousal.

Her shop is located "discreetly," according to its website. It's behind a shopping center at 136 E. Fremont Ave. by the open door of the Peacock Lounge.

She recommends the Kama Sutra Honey Dust ($26.95), which is a small,duster coated with honey scent that can caress skin or be applied to bed sheets. "It uses touch, smell and taste,'' Bermudes says. "I call this the grand finale.''

Another hot seller is Pure Instinct Sex Attractant Cologne ($16.95for 0.5 fluid ounces). "I really do believe that the pheromones work," says manager Alice Gibson. She says her man also seemed to like it. "I'll put it on my neck and the next morning he'll come up and nuzzle me, and he doesn't normally do that," Gibson says.

If that doesn't work, there's always the Chocoholics Body Frosting ($12.95) by Chocolate Divine Desserts.

Hungry for love

You can always get something hot at Lee's Sandwiches at 20363 Stevens Creek Blvd. in Cupertino, but can a sandwich start something wilder?

The Wave magazine informed readers a sardine sandwich is rumored to be an aphrodisiac.

Ninh Le, a clerk there, blushed under her glasses when a reporter asked her about the erotic power of the No. 10 Sardines. At $2.75, the 10-inch sub on a baguette might be a reach for an aphrodisiac.

"If you like fish, you'll probably like it," she says.

Pizza lovers
and romance

Want to have a sensuous Valentine's Day meal, but can't decide which food to use to bring out the love? A British pizza maker may have solved your problem.

A few years ago, Iceland supermarkets introduced the "Pizzagra," using about a dozen libido-lifting toppings.

"Customers tell us they love romance and that they really love pizza, so why not combine the two?" Iceland pizza buyer Steve Sweeney said in a statement.

The pizza isn't guaranteed to get you in the mood, but it can feed an appetite.

* The pizza has a tomato, garlic and basil base. Basil is said to stimulate the sex drive and fertility, and the "heat" in garlic can stir desires, according to folklore. The third-century Roman physician Galen said "windy" foods tend to arouse the senses.

* Artichoke: Ancient Greeks and Romans believed it to be an aphrodisiac and helping to secure the birth of boys.

* Onions: Some Indian alternative health experts say they strengthen the reproductive organs.

* Ginger: Heightens sensitivity and circulation.

* Red peppers: Can also stimulate circulation.

* Chocolate spread: Can release the feel-good chemical serotonin in the brain.

* Cardamom: An aromatic herb that can help detoxify the body.

* Banana slices: Have potassium and Vitamin B, necessary for sex hormone production.

* Strawberries: Full of vitamins and appear in some erotic texts as "fruit nipples."