Aromatic Aphrodisiacs

An aphrodisiac is generally defined as a substance that enhances or stimulates passion and sexual arousal. Individuals that are physically or emotional exhausted, under stress, lacking proper nutrition, depressed, anxious or physically ill often have a significantly more difficult time enjoying intimacy.

Certain essential oils are considered aphrodisiacs, which can help dissipate the physical, psychological or emotional ailments that may interfere with sexual desire or arousal. Scents of particular essential oils may induce stimulation of this brain part producing the desirable effect of romance.  Another notable characteristic of these essential oils are to influence the state of mind and the emotions. It helps induce warmth, intimacy, enforce spirituality and feeling of euphoria.

The sense of Olfaction plays a major role in increasing sensual experience. It is also noted that decreased sexual interest is due to the hypo production of the necessary hormones by the pituitary gland. This master gland is the one that helps regulate the production of all the other hormones in the body. Aphrodisiac aromas stimulate the brain part that is the seat of all emotions and carries the level of intimacy to a new level, a higher mental state beyond just physical connection and pleasure.

Rose and Ginger Soufflé is the perfect recipe for romance.  Rose essential oil is notably appealing to women triggering a response of desiring and romance. Ginger essential oil is warm, sensual and soothing.

 

The aroma of the rose intermingled with the ginger is unforgettable. This is a simple ingredient recipe with 2 essential oils that both have incredible aphrodisiac qualities. This recipe uses yogurt instead of pastry cream which gives the soufflé this lightness that makes it seem as if you are eating nothing but the pure aroma.

 

Unsalted Butter (buttering baking dishes)

Sugar (dusting baking dishes)

1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt

2 large egg yolks

1 tbsp fresh squeezed orange juice

10 drops Moroccan rose absolute

13 drops ginger essential oil                  

1 cup of egg whites

¾ cup of confectioner’ sugar

Salt

 Butter and sugar eight 4-ounce soufflé molds or ovenproof ceramic cups. In a mixing bowl, combine the yogurt, egg yolks, orange juice and essences.

Preheat the oven to 325F. In the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the whites on low speed with half of the sugar and a pinch of salt until they form soft peaks. Add the rest of the sugar and continue beating until the white forms stiff peaks.

Carefully fold 1/3 of the whites in to the yogurt base. Do not over mix. Fold in the rest of the whites until just combined and ladle into the soufflé molds. Fill the molds completely and then run your thumb around the top edge of the rim to create a slight indentation in the soufflé mixture. Bake until set but still moist inside, about 10 minutes. Serve hot in the soufflé molds.  Recipe from Aroma by Mandy Aftel and Daniel Patterson

Heather A. Howell AKA the Aromatic Alchemist is an Aroma-Pharmacist, Eco-Activist, Writer, Indie, Mama-blessed with 3 incredible children, speaker, teacher, aromatic life coach; Heather has love, compassionate and great reverence for plant medicine and their healing power. As a Certified Clinical Aromatherapist, Heather serves many businesses and organizations. She holds workshops covering areas of natural skincare, enhanced aromatherapy and wellness through essential oils. She is a Clinical Aromatherapist that formulates healing essential oil blends for your health issues: stress, backaches, eczema, menopause, ADHD/ADD, burns injuries, sprains – broken bones, wounds, surgeries and much more. Heather founded her first skincare company in 1999.

What matters most to us at the Aromatic Institute is empowering individuals to care for themselves holistically by creating awareness of the active properties of the wonderful essences of plants, trees, flowers, leaves, needles, and roots of the earth via divinely blended natural essential oil remedies and perfumes.

World's Oldest Perfumes Discovered...

The world’s oldest known perfumes have been found on the island reputed to be the birthplace of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, lust, and beauty, Italian archaeologists announced. Discovered on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus in 2003, the perfumes date back more than 4,000 years, said excavation leader Maria Rosaria Belgiorno of the National Research Council in Rome.

Remnants of the perfumes were found inside an ancient 3,230-square-foot (300-square-meter) factory that was part of a larger industrial complex at Pyrgos. The buildings were destroyed during an earthquake in 1850 B.C., but perfume bottles, mixing jugs, and stills were preserved under the collapsed walls. The artifacts are currently on display at the Capitolini Museum in Rome, along with modern reproductions of the centuries-old scents.

Dwight Loren is a perfumer and fragrance consultant with Essential Creations in New Jersey and a member of the American Society of Perfumers. He said Grasse, France, is considered to be the center of modern perfume making, but the industry is known to have ancient roots. “How sophisticated it was we don’t know, but certainly people were looking at natural ingredients to enhance either their own body or their environments or to use them in medicine,” he said.

Scents re-created
 Belgiorno’s team analyzed the remains of the mixing jugs and identified 14 fragrances native to the Mediterranean region used in perfume production. Extracts of anise, pine, coriander, bergamot, almond, and parsley are among the ingredients the ancient perfume-makers preferred. The team also discovered four “recipes” concocted with the different fragrances. An experimental archaeology center in Blera, Italy, recreated these perfumes using techniques described by Pliny the Elder, a Roman author who died observing the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79. Plants and herbs were ground up and mixed with olive oil in clay jugs, then distilled in a clay apparatus, Belgiorno explained.

The smell of the perfumes is “a nice experience that re-creates in our mind a sort of ancestral reminder,” she said in an email interview. Parsley, she noted, “is a terrible fragrance if used alone, [but it] forms a nice scent if blended with other fragrances.” The re-creations are not yet for sale to the general public, but the excavation team is looking for a partner to market them. Proceeds would fund further archaeological work. Loren, the perfume industry consultant, said such a venture could prove viable if marketed to the appropriate niche, such as museum visitors, and packaged in a similar way to the ancient concoctions.

Aphrodite Connection
 Aphrodite was likely recognized as the goddess of Cyprus because the island was already well known for its perfumes by the time the myth arose, according to Belgiorno. Many perfumes today are considered aphrodisiacs—substances believed to boost sexual desire. “The Cyprus perfumes were born before Aphrodite, and after Aphrodite they remained linked to the island and its goddess” Belgiorno said.

The archaeologist added that she doesn’t know why the people of Cyprus started making and wearing perfumes 4,000 years ago. In ancient Egypt, she noted, perfumes were used for cosmetic and pharmaceutical purposes as well as religious ceremonies. Regardless of how the Cypriot perfumes were used, she believes today’s fragrances just don’t compare. “We have lost the real world of natural fragrances,” she said, “because most of the perfumes of today are chemical reproductions of the natural fragrances and scents.”

from John Roach, National Geographic News, March 29 2007

This great article came from Robert Tisserand.

Join me in exploring the depth and beauty of the natural realms of fragrances through the use of Essential Oils. Get you own custom perfume blended specific for your needs by our Aromatherapist at the Aromatic Institute.