Heart-Healthy Produce for a Romantic Valentine’s Day
Emily Ellis
Valentine’s Day is a time to celebrate your sweetheart, but it’s also a day to shower a little extra love on your hardest-working organ. While boxed chocolates, red wine and chocolate-drizzled strawberries are in abundance in mid-February, there are plenty of fresh fruits, veggies and herbs out there that can do far more for your heart - and by extension, your romantic life - than those typical February 14th foods ever could.
Whether this holiday finds you healing from heartache, nurturing a loving relationship, or simply looking for some tasty and healthy options for a Valentine's Day meal, scroll down to read about several herbs and veggies grown at our Biocultural Conservation Farm that help keep your blood pumping and your heart healthy.*
Tomatoes
Juicy tomatoes being sliced for seed-saving at the BCCF.
While you’re unlikely to find tomatoes set out alongside the candy and booze come February 14th, they are, in many ways, the perfect Valentine’s Day food. In addition to resembling a human heart with its four chambers and deep red color, the tomato is among the fruits with the highest sources of lycopene, a bright red carotenoid hydrocarbon that is also found in watermelons, grapefruits, and many other reddish food crops and may help reduce some heart-disease risk factors. Beets and carrots also contain lycopene, and are easier to find fresh this time of year. (Interestingly, strawberries and cherries - two other rosy-hued Valentine’s Day favorites - do not contain lycopene, although they’re very nutritious in their own right!)
While fresh tomatoes are a great source of lycopene, the savory fruit will make an even better impact after being processed and eaten with oil or fat, which makes it easier for your body to absorb the antioxidant and is a tastier way to enjoy tomatoes in the winter months. So whip up a big, splatter-y plate of spaghetti marinara with some locally purchased tomato sauce this Valentine’s Day - a far more romantic meal than any banquet of oysters and chocolate.
Ginger
Ginger, a well-known immune booster today, is one the most ancient treatments for heart issues. Native to Southeastern Asia, the root was used for many centuries in traditional Chinese, Indonesian, and Ayurvedic medicine to treat cardiovascular conditions. A powerful anti inflammatory, the herb’s properties are being studied today as possible treatments for everything from sea sickness to Ovarian cancer.
In addition to supporting heart health, ginger can also help boost blood flow to other organs - another reason why it’s a great addition to a Valentine’s Day meal. Ginger is one of history’s best-known aphrodisiacs, especially for men; way back in the first century AD, Greek physician Dioscorides recommended ginger for treating erectile dysfunction. If baby-making is on the table, studies have also shown that ginger may help with female fertility and sperm mobility.
While it’s easy to find mature ginger at the grocery store this time of year, baby ginger - with its creamy white and pink coloring - has more of a Valentine’s Day aesthetic, and is just as healthy as the adult version. Baby ginger is typically harvested in October in our area, before the tough outer skin forms. It has a milder flavor than mature ginger, and is far easier to chop up and include in a zippy recipe such as candied ginger. It also freezes well, so if you can easily set some aside for your next romantic rend-de-vous.
Peppers
Want another powerful anti-inflammatory that (might) help inflame your passion? Try hot peppers, which contain capsaicin, a compound that studies have shown could have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. According to a study from the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, people who ate chili peppers multiple times a week were significantly less likely to die of heart disease than those who never ate the spicy peppers. And while the jury’s out on whether spicy peppers can actually spice things up in the bedroom, they certainly can’t hurt in that department: capsaicin can cause increased heart rate, red face, and sweating - a similar physiological reaction to a certain other activity.
If you want to add some local history to your Valentine’s Day meal along with some blood-pumping capsaicin, try a heritage variety like the colorful fish peppers grown at the BCCF (while it’s not pepper season, you can purchase great hot sauces made out of them from places like Soilful City and Woodberry Kitchen).
According to culinary historian Michael Twitty, spicy fish peppers likely arrived in the United States from Haiti around the time of the island’s revolution, and from there made its way into produce markets and home gardens of Baltimore’s Black community. Like many heirloom crops, fish peppers faded into obscurity in the 20th century before being revived by celebrated Black Philadelphia painter Horace Pippin and culinary historian William Woys Weaver; you can read the whole fascinating history – and find some great tips for cooking with them - here. And if you want to make sure you have fish peppers on hand for next Valentine’s Day, you can get them from True Love Seeds - it’s almost time to start planting, anyway!
Hibiscus
Not only are hibiscus calyces a deep, Valentine’s Day-red, they are rich in compounds called anthocyanins which have also demonstrated ACE inhibiting activity, similar to many drugs that people take for hypertension. Like many other herbs and foods that help increase blood flow, some studies have indicated that hibiscus may have aphrodisiac effects, although we’ll leave you to test that out for yourself.
Hibiscus dries well, meaning it’s easy to store throughout the year or purchase out of season. A steamy mug of hibiscus and ginger tea would make the perfect heart-healthy Valentine’s Day apéritif - tart, spicy and sweet, much like love.
Garlic
Think strong-smelling garlic is best suited for vampires and solo dinners? Think again. Not only are heirloom varieties like this magenta-striped garlic grown at the BCCF absolutely stunning, but garlic also has amazing heart-supporting properties, making it (in our humble opinion) an extremely romantic food.
Garlic has long been used in traditional Chinese and Indian medicine as a blood thinner, and studies have shown that its anti-platelet properties can help reduce dangerous plaque build up in the arteries. Fresh garlic contains allicin - the compound that, in addition to making the herb smell so strong, can increase blood flow (and subsequently, sexual arousal). Just remember, most of garlic’s incredible properties are reduced once it is cooked, so don’t be shy about smooching your sweetie after chomping down on a fresh pesto or bruschetta.
Interested in acquiring a regular dose of heart-healthy fruits and vegetables for yourself? Our Biocultural Conservation Farm still has a few spots left for its small, 25-week 2022 Community Supported Agriculture program. A working organic farm established on the Rokeby side of the property in 2019, the BCCF is dedicated to conserving and sharing heirloom crops with deep roots in the Virginia piedmont and Appalachian region.
All funds generated from the CSA help the BCCF continue to donate at least 50% of what it grows annually to local food banks, support emerging leaders in sustainable agriculture through our apprenticeship program, establish programs centered around sustainable agriculture and food access (read about our Food for Farmers Relief initiative – one the BCCF’s 2020 programs- here), and develop future local educational programming, which we’re excited to share more information about later this year! Find more information about the CSA here, and please feel free to write Farm Manager Christine Harris at christine@osgf.org with any questions.
Banner image by Chiot’s Run via Flickr. Additional photos by Christine Harris
*While these vegetables may help support heart health, the Oak Spring Garden Foundation recommends consulting with your doctor before adding any new foods or supplements to your diet.