So many foods are rumoured to have an aphrodisiac effect; it's hard to sort out the myth from the fact.

But there is no doubt that eating something rare and expensive, that has been harvested from the wild and is unadulterated by chemicals, will be stimulating.

Oysters

Oysters, once called the food of the poor, are now seen as a luxury item and eaten only occasionally.

Very high in protein and zinc - which is said to stimulate men, eaten raw you can feel the energy oysters provide, but whether or not they increase the blood flow is forever debated.

Truffles

Black Truffles are the fungi found attached to the roots of trees. They have a pungent, earthy smell, irresistible to the truffle-hunting pigs that search for them. In fact truffles possess a strong smell just so they can be found because when they are disturbed they spread their spores and reproduce.

In an experiment, some truffle oil was rubbed onto a wooden chair in a railway waiting room and a hidden camera left in the room. Over a period of a day when people came and went from the room, it was said that most gravitated towards the truffle oil chair. The scent of the truffle appeared to be as effective on humans as it is on pigs.

Lavender, rocket and horseradish

Certain herbs are wild aphrodisiacs. Lavender is said to stimulate women, and basil and oregano have a similar effect. The peppery flavoured leaf Rocket was always rumoured to be an aphrodisiac, and was banned from monasteries in twelfth century Italy. Another peppery ingredient that will do a little more than spice up roast beef is horseradish.

Crab

Crab, like oysters, contains very high levels of zinc - a known stimulant for the prostate and therefore an aphrodisiac for men in particular.

Ginger and cardamom

Spicy food has a long history of spicing up love affairs. In India ginger and cardamom are added to food to give couples more zest in the bedroom. There, more than anywhere, the relationship between delicious meals and a successful love life are vital.

Try our wild aphrodisiac menu. To start, a smooth vividly green, rocket soup with a slight, peppery flavour with shavings of truffles and truffle oil.

Follow with a main course of crab cakes, served with a piquant horseradish vinegar sauce. Finish with an iced ginger parfait, and a melting, endomorphic, chocolate sauce. The menu is designed so that most of the cooking can be done in advance. All recipes serve 2 or more.

CREAMED ROCKET SOUP SCENTED WITH TRUFFLES

Serves 2

Ingredients

15g (½oz) butter

4 spring onions, chopped

salt and fresh ground black pepper

1 tsp potato flour (available from Italian delis or health food shops)

½ litre (1 pint) chicken stock

1 egg yolk

6 oz tender rocket leaves, roughly chopped

single cream

shavings of fresh black or white truffles

truffle oil - available in delis

Melt the butter over a moderate heat in a deep sided saucepan. Add the spring onions, and cook for two minutes until soft - do not let them brown.

Remove from the heat. Add the salt, pepper and potato flour with 2 tbs of the stock and stir until smooth.

Return the pan to the heat, add the chicken stock in a slow and steady stream, stirring all the time to avoid the soup becoming lumpy. Continue to stir until the soup boils. (You can speed up this process if you bring the stock up to boiling point in a separate saucepan before adding it.)

Add the rocket leaves to the soup and remove pan from heat again. Put the soup in a liquidiser, in batches, and process until smooth. If you want a really velvety texture push the soup through a mouli-legumes.

Before serving, reheat the soup carefully ¿ it must not boil. Add the beaten egg yolk and the cream. Pour into the bowls, scatter the truffles on top and a few drops of truffle oil. Pour a little single cream in to a heart shape.

CRAB CAKES WITH COCONUT AND A PIQUANT SAUCE

These are quite a fiddle to make but you can make them in advance and reheat them.

Ingredients for the cakes

500g(18oz) fresh white crab meat

125g(4 ½oz) fresh brown crab meat

100g(3 ½oz) grated fresh coconut

2 tbs tinned coconut milk

1" strip of ginger, grated

the zest of one lime and one lemon, grated

2 cloves of garlic

100g(3 ½oz) fresh breadcrumbs

Ingredients for the sauce

4 tbs rice vinegar

2 tbs thin soy sauce (Kikkoman)

1 tsp grated horseradish

1 tsp very finely chopped sweet red pepper

Mix all the crab cake ingredients together, but using only half the breadcrumbs and refridgerate for half an hour.

Using your hands to form the crab cakes into small flattened cakes, about 2 ½" across and ¾" deep. Roll them in the remaining breadcrumbs.

Heat some groundnut or sunflower oil in a frying pan. Drop a piece of stale bread into the oil ¿ if it browns, the oil is hot enough. Shallow-fry the crab cakes for three minutes on each side. Then lift them out and drain thoroughly on some kichen paper.

When they are cool, put them in the fridge. Make the sauce by combining all the ingredients. To serve preheat the oven to 180c/360f/gas 4. Put the crab cakes on a tray and reheat for about 8-10 minutes.

Serve with the sauce, and a few wild rocket leaves. If you are feeling especially decadent, have a pot of caviar, placed on top of a bowl of crushed ice between you, and two teaspoons.

ICED GINGER PARFAIT WITH A PURE CHOCOLATE SAUCE

Make the parfait at least one day before you need it.

300ml/1/2 pt single cream

2 egg yolks

1 egg

4 tbs ginger syrup - from the preserved ginger jar

4 oz preserved ginger

½ pt double cream whipped

2 tbs soft brown sugar

Have ready a small 500g/1lb capacity loaf tin, lined neatly with baking paper.

In a heavy bottomed saucepan, scald the single cream by heating it to boiling point. In a bowl beat the eggs, add the scalded cream, return the mixture to the pan and heat very carefully without boiling. It should thicken a little.

Remove from the heat, beat in the ginger syrup, pour into a tupperware and allow to cool with a layer of baking paper on top, to stop a skin forming. Put in the freezer and set until hard, about four or five hours.

Take the frozen 'custard' out of the freezer, leave at room temperature for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, whip the double cream in a bowl until thick. Slice the ginger thinly. Break up the vanilla custard and fold in the whipped cream, the ginger and the soft brown sugar.

Do not over do it, it gives the parfait caracter if the cream and custard are 'marbled and there are still a few lumps of the brown sugar about. Turn the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and freeze again until solid.

Make the chocolate sauce before dinner. Place a mixing bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Break the chocolate into it, add the butter. When it has melted, give it a good stir, Keep it the water warm but not boiling until you need it.

To serve the parfait remove it from the freezer. Turn it out on to a plate. With a sharp knife dipped in boiling cut a slice about an inch thick and put it onto the dessert plate. Pour the chocolate sauce around it.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pa3IpbCmmZmhe6S7ja6iaJ6Voq6quI6aqa2hk6Gybn%2BUa2xqZ3ekeri1y51kmqiYp7yltdKimJyrXp3Brrg%3D