Heart Happy Herbs for Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is upon us and love is in the air! This holiday is a great reminder to enjoy special relationships with loved ones as well as to spend some time caring for what is perhaps the most precious relationship of all—the one with yourself. We have gathered together a lovely assortment of recipes and crafts to share with you about three wonderful heart-nourishing herbs for Valentine’s Day: rose, cocoa, and hawthorn. Enjoy these offerings as part of a special Valentine’s Day!

Roses for the Family 

Rose can be a wonderful plant ally to have for every member of the family. Learn more about its usefulness in the family home and find practical recipes and fun crafts here:
https://theherbalacademy.com/a-family-herb-the-comforts-of-rose/

Roses are fun for kids, too! This wonderful craft can be made by kids as a great gift for classmates, friends, siblings, and grandparents. Plus rose scented cards for kids are a simple and lovely change from store-brought greeting cards!
http://www.growingupherbal.com/scented-rose-dust-valentines-day-cards/

Rose Recipes to Delight Your Taste Buds

It may sound strange but rose is right at home in the kitchen. If you have never tried adding roses to your culinary creations, you are in for a real treat.

Whip up a batch of delicious rose-infused cheesecakes made with simple ingredients like nuts, raspberries, and rose water—they are sure to be a delicious healthy treat your whole family will appreciate.
http://www.growingupherbal.com/rose-infused-cheesecakes/

Enjoy a creamy, rosy drink full complete with strawberries and vanilla with this Tulsi Love Latte:
https://theherbalacademy.com/vintage-valentine-diy-and-morning-latte/

Make a luscious lemon-rose raspberry parfait as a delicious, healthy treat for a special Valentine’s Day breakfast or dessert. Your tummy will thank you!
https://theherbalacademy.com/rose-herbs-we-love-for-summer/

Invite herbal aphrodisiacs into your life this Valentine’s Day. Here you will find lots of helpful information about herbs along with plenty of lovely, delicious recipes for creating our own aphrodisiacs.
https://theherbalacademy.com/love-it-up-with-herbal-aphrodisiacs/

Rosy Body Care 

Perhaps one of the most sensuous ways to enjoy rose is with beautifully crafted and lovingly applied body care. Each of these recipes would make a wonderful gift for a loved one or for yourself!

Check out this wonderful post which is full of great ideas for creating a special evening complete with a divine homemade rose-vanilla massage oil!
https://theherbalacademy.com/make-your-night-memorable-with-a-rose-vanilla-massage-oil/

Rose water, beloved by many cultures for centuries, is truly an amazing way to harness and enjoy the beauty of roses. With many applications from culinary to therapeutic, it is certainly a wonderful preparation to get to know. Learn how to make your very own rose water here:
https://theherbalacademy.com/how-to-make-and-use-rose-water/

Make a special treat of beautiful, all-natural orange rose perfume. The happy fragrance is sure to uplift and bring a smile!
https://theherbalacademy.com/diy-sweet-oranges-rose-perfume/

Enjoy making three different body care products chock full of rosy goodness. You will find complete directions for a floral lip balm, rose & honeysuckle salve, and rose bath salts.
https://theherbalacademy.com/3-herbal-gifts-to-celebrate-mothers-day/

Chocolate Divine

Happiness. Simple as a glass of chocolate or tortuous as the heart. Bitter. Sweet. Alive.
– Joanne Harris, Chocolat

Right along with roses comes chocolate! Who doesn’t enjoy a bit of chocolate with their roses at Valentine’s? Most people wouldn’t consider chocolate to be an herb, however, remember that chocolate is made from the mighty cocoa bean and when left relatively untainted by sugar and untouched by artificial additives, chocolate can be a wonderful addition to a healthy life style. Herbalists also sometimes add it to their remedies for its uplifting properties. Dark chocolate is loaded with the feel-good chemicals phenylethylamine, theobromine, and serotonin as well as antioxidant polyphenols and has been found to have a positive effect on the cardiovascular system (Medicine Hunter, n.d).

Take an inside look into how chocolate is made from fresh cocoa pods full of beans then roasted and ground for processing into the tasty chocolate we know and love:
http://www.thedancingherbalist.com/#!Chocolate/chwf/55e270ef0cf24e84f75c2088

Chocolate In The Kitchen 

Choose your favorite concoction or two from below and enjoy a bit of nourishing dark chocolate this Valentine’s with these delicious, easy-to-make recipes!

What could be better than herbal chocolate? The possible combinations are endless, all leading to an extremely tasty result! From chocolates all laced with roses (yes rose!) to chocolates with orange and even some with a spicy peppery kick, you are sure to find something exciting. Visit the links below for plenty of recipes and inspiration.

Homemade Chocolate Recipes for Decadent Herbal Chocolates:
https://theherbalacademy.com/homemade-chocolate-recipes-for-decadent-herbal-chocolates/

Yum, yummy! Orange-Ginger Chocolate Truffles:
https://naturalherballiving.com/chocolate-truffle-recipe/

If you are like me and you enjoy drinking your chocolate, with it all warm and creamy in a mug, check out these delicious recipes! This might be the perfect way to wake up on Valentine’s Day or perhaps as a tasty treat in the afternoon.

Valentine’s Day Hot Chocolate, is full of warming cinnamon, ashwagandha, and of course, cocoa!
https://theherbalacademy.com/valentines-day-hot-chocolate/

Real Peppermint Hot Cacao, made with peppermint leaves, this hot cocoa blend is perfect for mint lovers:
https://theherbalacademy.com/indulge-your-sweet-tooth-with-real-peppermint-hot-cacao/

Perfect if you are looking for a really healthy chocolate treat, the following recipes are full of delicious ingredients like fruits, nuts, coconut, and cocoa!

Vegan, raw Valentine’s Day chocolate pudding is a snap to make and fun to share with a loved one:
https://theherbalacademy.com/healthy-chocolate-pudding-for-valentines-day/

These little raw snacks are a great choice for enjoying some chocolate:
https://theherbalacademy.com/healthy-raw-snacks-you-will-love/

Make sometime special for the children in your life!

Though not for eating, you can whip up some chocolate and rose play dough, both of which are a wonderfully fragrant all-natural play dough. They are a great gift for younger kids and also fun for kids to give away in place of candy. Use a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut shape the play dough, place it in a little baggie with a label, and your child can hand them out to friends!
http://mamarosemary.com/blog/2013/02/11/rose-and-chocolate-play-dough-valentines

Hearty Hawthorn 

In hawthorn-time the heart grows light,
The world is sweet in sound and sight.
– Swinburne, Tale of Balen. I. 

Last, but certainly not least, we offer hawthorn as an herb to invite into your life this Valentine’s Day. Hawthorn is used by herbalists as a wonderful plant ally for the heart. It is considered to be a trophorestorative that helps to nourish and balance the heart. Emotionally, hawthorn may be soothing and healing. Naturopath Sharol Tilgner explains that hawthorn is “indicated for heart conditions related to emotional heartache or spiritual heartache from a disconnection with the spirit… It helps to open the heart to forgiveness of others or forgiveness of life events that may be keeping a person from healing” (Tilgner, 1999, pp. 73).

To learn more about hawthorn’s virtues visit:
http://mamarosemary.com/blog/2015/2/1/hawthorn-for-heart-health-more

Perhaps the simplest way to enjoy hawthorn is with a cup of tea. Hawthorn is also wonderful in syrups, jams and jellies as well as taken in tincture form. Please enjoy these lovely hawthorn recipes!

Hawthorn berries make a wonderfully delicious especially when combined with rose and cinnamon:
https://theherbalacademy.com/hawthorn-tea-for-the-winter-heart/

Hawthorn + Helichrysum Sea Glass candies make a truly lovely and unique way to enjoy hawthorn!
http://www.indieherbalist.com/blog/hawthornhelichrysum-sea-glass-an-herbalist-makes-candy

Here is one more herbal chocolate recipe—this one is all infused with hawthorn and rose. These delicious chocolates have it all!
https://naturalherballiving.com/heart-lovin-herbal-chocolate-recipe/

We hope you enjoy these three herbs for Valentine’s Day and perhaps invite them into your daily life for a little extra love! With much love and full hearts, we wish you a very Happy Valentine’s Day!

Find more to love!

Learn about the special language of flowers with The Secret Meaning Of Herbs.
Find even more love for Valentine’s day with Valentines’ Treats & Words to Love By.
Read about herbs, foods, and self-care practices for nourishing a healthy sex life: Sex on the Table .

REFERENCES

Harris, Joanne. (1999). Chocolat. New York, NY: Penguin Books.

Kintz, Jarod. (2011). This book is not for sale. Amazon Digital Services LLC.

Medicine Hunter. (n.d.). Chocolate: The Love Drug. Retrieved from http://www.medicinehunter.com/chocolate_love_drug

Swinburne, Algernon, C. (1896). The Tale of Balen and Other Poems. Retrieved from http://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/swinburne-tale-of-balen.

Tilgner, Sharol, N.D. (1999). Herbal medicine from the heart of the earth. Creswell, OR: Wise Acres Press, Inc.