The Origin of Valentine's Day

When you Google the history of Valentine's Day you get a number of variations of the origin of this lover's holiday. One version is that in Ancient Rome, February 14th was the day set aside to honor Juno, Queen of the Roman Gods and Goddesses. Apparently during those times girls and boys were segregated, however the custom was that on the eve of the Festival of Lupercalia (Feb 15th), the names of the girls were written on pieces of paper and inserted into jars. The boys then each drew the name of a girl from the jar. These two where then partners throughout the Festival. After being paired up in this way, the children often would continue to see one another throughout the year and some of them even married.

The story goes that Emperor Claudius II of Rome was having trouble recruiting men as soldiers. Because he believed the reason was that the men did not want to leave their sweethearts, he canceled all engagements and marriages throughout Rome. St. Valentine, a Christian Priest, was caught secretly marrying Christian couples. He was arrested and imprisoned. Apparently Claudius took a liking to this prisoner but when Valentine tried to convert the Emperor he was condemned to death. He was beaten with clubs and stoned and then finally beheaded outside the Flaminian Gate [circa 269].

St. Valentine is the Patron Saint of affianced couples, bee keepers, engaged couples, epilepsy, fainting, greetings, happy marriages, love, lovers, plague, travelers and young people. He is represented in pictures with birds and roses.

There is still time to make a special Valentine's Day gift yourself and to get you started here are a couple of ideas from my e-book Aromatic Gifts For All Ages And All Seasons.

Chocolate Mint Truffles

Ingredients:
500gm bittersweet chocolate
2 cups heavy cream
15 drops spearmint essential oil
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Method:

1. Chop chocolate up into small pieces of roughly the same size. Alternatively you can use chocolate melts, which are already in smaller pieces.
2. Melt the chocolate either in the top of a double boiler or in a slow cooker.
3. When the chocolate is almost all melted add the cream and remove from the heat and stir well.
4. Add the spearmint essential oil and mix well.
5. Pour the mixture into a container and refrigerate until firm. This will probably take 2 hours or longer.
6. Spread the cocoa powder on a baking tray.
7. Have a bowl of warm water available.
8. Remove the cooled mixture from the refrigerator and scoop out balls to make the truffles. Use a melon scoop if you have one, otherwise use a spoon and gently roll the truffle in your hands to make it round. To make the scooping easier dip the melon scoop or spoon in to the warm water between scoops making sure to shake off any excess water. Place the truffles on the baking tray with the cocoa powder.
9. Gently shake the baking tray to coat the truffles in cocoa powder.
10. Refrigerate until the truffles firm up a bit. They are served at room temperature.

Bay Rum Tonic

Ingredients:
10 drops Bay Laurel essential oil
1 drop Orange essential oil
1 drop Clove essential oil
30 ml (1oz) Vodka or grain alcohol
Dark Bottle

Method:

1. Add alcohol/vodka to the dark bottle.
2. Add the essential oils and mix well.
3. Allow the aroma to develop over the next week to 10 days.