Aphrodisiac Foods: the Oyster

In Greek mythology Aphrodite is the Goddess of love and beauty. In Roman mythology the equivalent is Venus. Both Goddesses symbolize erotic love and fertility. It is from Aphrodite that the word aphrodisiac comes from to make reference to any substance that increases sexual desire and enhances sexual performance.

Probably the first aphrodisiacs were those that resembled the sexual organs, thus, food that in some way looked like vaginas were reputed as being aphrodisiacs. In this list one of the most famous aphrodisiac foods are oysters for the clear resemblance to the female sexual organs.

Did you know that the French are the biggest consumers of oysters in the world?  I only had my first oysters when I moved to France. Here seafood and especially oysters have a privileged place on the Christmas tables.  So the time came when I couldn’t avoid any more eating an oyster.  I had seen them before but I had never dared eat them.  To be honest, I had nightmares about those creatures since I went to a seafood bar in Southern Spain where they had all sorts of live seafood still crawling or wriggling on trays waiting to be eaten.  Most of the seafood was eaten raw with just a sprinkle of lemon juice to make sure that the chosen victim was indeed alive. If the victim wriggled in its shell when the lemon juice touched it, it meant that it was fresh and ready to slide inside your mouth.

France is the primary producer of oysters in Europe and the fourth producer worldwide.  So probably it is not a surprise that the French are very keen on oysters.  After my daunting experience in Spain it took some encouragement and a few glasses of champagne before trying my first oyster a couple of years ago.  A friend had come to visit with a basket of oysters and there was no way I could refuse to eat them.  When we opened the first oyster I had the “honour” of eating it and I had no idea how to do it.  The smell of iodine was overpowering, I carefully slid it into my mouth and felt its saltiness spreading; the texture was smooth but crisp at the same time.  I loved it and immediately asked for another one.  We tried them with lemon juice, with vinegar; with shallots… they were delicious.  After that day I was simply “love struck” with oysters.  The year after, we travelled three hours to the seaside with the same friend just to sit at an oyster bar at lunch time to eat a couple of dozen fresh oysters each.  Not content with that, after a long walk on the beach, we went back to the same place for dinner to have another couple of dozen oysters each! 

Did they have an aphrodisiac power?

I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.  All I can say is that at midnight we were having a “skinny dip” in the sea, despite the cold weather!

Nutritional value:

Oysters are an excellent source of minerals. The most important being zinc (6,5 mg / 100 g). They also contain iron (twice as much as red meat), magnesium, calcium, iodine, copper, and potassium. If that wasn’t enough they are also rich in vitamins A,B,PP, C, E, D and E (antioxidant). To top things off –as if it couldn’t be better- oysters are very low in calories: 8 oysters (around 100gr.) have only 70 calories. So yes, you can actually sit and eat oysters to your heart’s content without those guilty bulges hanging outside your bikini later on, provided of course, that you eat them raw.

How to choose your oysters

In France oysters can be eaten all year round but the taste changes according to the time of the year. During their reproduction period (May to August) oysters tend to be more “milky” which is not to everyone’s taste.

If you buy oysters –at least in France- they are classified in numbers according to their size, a number 5 is the smallest one while a 0 is the bigger one.

How to keep your oysters

Keep them in a temperature not lower than 5°C but no higher than 15°C. In winter you can keep them outdoors. During the summer, the vegetable tray in your fridge is the best place to keep them. If they have not been opened, oysters can be kept a maximum of 10 days.

A good oyster should not open very easy, the shell should be in a good state and it should smell nice.

Use an “oyster knife” or if you don’t have one, a little knife with a pointed blade.

Wear a thick kitchen glove to hold the oyster and protect your hand or put a kitchen towel folded in four over your hand to protect it. There are lots of accidents related to opening oysters, so please do be careful.

Place the oyster on your hand with the “swollen” side of the shell facing down.

With the other hand grab your knife with your thumb around 1cm away from the end of the blade. Insert the knife at about 2/3 of the oyster, cut the muscle and lift the shell to separate it from the bottom shell and open the oyster.

The oyster should be eaten at the most within 3 hours of being open.

It is recommended to open the oysters a few minutes in advance before eating them, empty the first water that you find and leave them for a few minutes to produce their “second water”. The oyster -still alive- deprived of its water will produce in about one to two minutes a purified water very rich in minerals and salts. This “second water enhances the flavour of the oyster and it means that it is ready to be tasted.

The less caloric and most tasty way to eat an oyster is raw and on its own. If you prefer, you can add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice just before eating it.

In France it is also popular to eat oysters with a little drop of shallot’s vinegar. This is the recommended way by the nutritionists as the vinegar does not destroy the vitamin E in the oyster the way the lemon does.

Oysters can also be eaten cooked in many different ways.

What wine to drink with Oysters?

It is very important to select the appropriate wine to drink with your oysters as a bad choice can not only mask the taste of the oysters but you can be wasting a good wine that is not appropriate to drink with oysters.

But choosing the best wine to drink with your oysters is a very difficult task as the choice not only depends on personal taste but also on the origin of the oysters and the way you are going to eat them. 

Ordinarily, oysters are accompanied by white wine.  The strong content of iodine in oysters makes a simple dry white wine a safe choice.  Avoid white wines that contain too much sugar or fruity accords. The most common wines associated to oysters are:

• Muscadet.

• Chablis.

• Quincy, reuilly, pouilly-fumé, sancerre.

• If your oysters are not very strong in iodine a white Bordeaux or a white Coteaux du languedoc can enhance your “oyster experience”.

Now if you are feeling luxurious or want to mix aphrodisiac food and drink you can choose a bottle of Champagne.

Oysters are very rich in Zinc, a mineral that stimulates our immune system and it is also indispensable for the production and synthesis of the male hormone testosterone. Also the high content of iodine increases the production of thyroidian  hormones which in turn give a boost to your sexual desire.  To complete the picture, the vitamin C in the oyster helps counteract the effects of the effort during sexual encounters. 

For men the oligo-elements in the oyster help the production of sperm.

Other foods that have an aphrodisiac reputation are:

1)       Chocolate and coffee.  Both contain substances that increase the amount of endorphins in the body.

2)       Wine and champagne.

3)       Spices.  In France mustard has a reputation for stimulating the sexual glands. 

4)       Ginger, known for its vaso dilatants effects.

5)       Ginseng

6)       Truffes, and vanille.  Both are aphrodisiacs for their scent.  The truffle with its woody scent - so manly - seems to awake the senses in women.  While the sweet-warm scent of vanilla awakens the senses in men.

 

Conclusion:

Whether oysters are aphrodisiac for their nutritional content, for their scent or for their looks it is not 100% certain.  But then, why not try?  Aphrodisiacs shouldn’t be tested in laboratories, they are meant to be tested in your bedroom.  Oysters are delicious and easy to digest for a romantic dinner.  Accompanied by a bottle of champagne and some dark chocolate for dessert they might just bring the fireworks to your bedroom; or better still, for a change, they might bring your bedroom to your dining table ;-)