Aphrodisiac foods

thumb|Chocolate bars in dark, white, and milk variants (top to bottom). Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao). They are usually fermented to develop the flavor, then dried, cleaned, and roasted. The shell is removed to reveal nibs, which are ground to chocolate liquor (unadulterated chocolate in rough form.) The liquor can be processed to separate its two components, cocoa solids and cocoa butter, or shaped and sold as

The fig is the edible fruit of Ficus carica (the common fig), a species of tree or shrub in the flowering plant family Moraceae, native to the Mediterranean region, and to western and southern Asia. It has been cultivated since ancient times and is now widely grown throughout the world. Ficus carica is the type species of the genus Ficus, which comprises over 800 tropical and subtropical plant species.

The pomegranate (Punica granatum) is a fruit-bearing, deciduous shrub in the family Lythraceae, subfamily Punicoideae, that grows to between tall. Rich in symbolic and mythological associations in many cultures, it originated in the region spanning the Caucasus and Iranian plateau — including modern-day Iran,Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Pomegranate was first domesticated by ancient Iranians in the Persian plateau and nearby regions about 5,000 years ago. It is extensively cultivated for its fruit.

thumb|Mixed seafood in Dubai; oysters are at the edge of the tray Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not all oysters, are in the superfamily Ostreoidea.

thumb|True cardamom plant (Elettaria cardamomum) thumb|Cardamom seeds

Salep, also spelled sahlep, salepi or sahlab, is a flour made from the tubers of the orchid genus Orchis (including species Orchis mascula and Orchis militaris). These tubers contain a nutritious, starchy polysaccharide called glucomannan. Salep flour is consumed in beverages and desserts, especially in the cuisines of the former Byzantines and Ottoman, notably in the Levant where it is a traditional winter beverage. An increase in consumption is causing local extinctions of orchids in parts of Greece, Turkey, and Iran.