Read: Irish Examiner | Feast on a home-grown aphrodisiac
First published in the Irish Examiner on Friday 14 February 2025.
Irish-grown, sustainable, delicious — and long considered an aphrodisiac — oysters could be just the thing if you’re looking for a romantic treat for your loved one this Valentine’s Day.
When it comes to food to get you in the mood, oysters punch above their weight on so many levels. High in protein and rich in trace elements such as iodine, iron, selenium, copper, and zinc, they even have mythology on their side. The word aphrodisiac comes from Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and passion, who was said to have emerged from the sea on an oyster shell.
While there are other consumables said to stimulate sexual desire — and there’s no scientific proof — oysters do have a strong reputation for romance.
For the Romans, who were also the first to cultivate them, oysters were an obligatory part of any orgy. In his memoirs, Italian adventurer Casanova wrote about eating oysters with his lovers in the late 1700s, and Byron’s 19th-century epic poem ‘Don Juan’ also namechecked oysters.
“It’s such well-established cultural thinking, oysters as sexy food,” says chef and oyster expert Sarah Browne. “They’re really associated with being an aphrodisiac. It’s a bit of a myth — but that can also have a strong placebo effect.”
Reared on a dairy farm outside Listowel, Browne became interested in oysters when she joined the Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) Taste the Atlantic Young Chef Ambassador programme in 2021. A collaboration between BIM and Chef Network, this seafood mentoring programme introduces young chefs to Irish seafood producers and their products.
While studying Culinary Arts at ATU in Killybegs, she had her first proper oyster experience while on the Taste the Atlantic programme. “I ate my first oyster that year, and I fell in love with it,” she says.
That encounter with oysters certainly inspired passion, and in 2023, Browne set up Oysome, a business that celebrates the best of Irish oysters. Now, she operates oyster bars for events, runs hands-on shucking and serving workshops at festivals, and last summer, she had a stall at Galway’s Saturday food market. She uses oysters from a variety of Irish producers.
“Essentially, what I do with the business is promote Irish oysters,” she says. “The aim is to teach as many people as possible that they can enjoy oysters at home and that we have the best in the world on our doorstep.”
Aphrodisiac or not, Ireland is exporting an enormous amount of the oysters produced in the seas around Ireland. “Oysters are so underappreciated in this country. They’re a high-value product, and Irish oysters are recognised worldwide for their quality,” says Browne.
According to a BIM report in 2021, €45m-worth of Irish oysters were exported, mainly to France, renowned for its love of seafood. That works out at around 90% of the total production. But there is every nutritional reason for oysters to become part of our native diet.
BMI’s Seafood Nutrition Handbook rates oysters as being high in zinc, iodine, iron, vitamin B12 and selenium, along with being a natural source of vitamin D. Zinc in particular is associated with testosterone levels, fertility and reproduction, while selenium contributes to normal spermatogenesis, the production of sperm.
“It doesn’t sound so sexy,” laughs Browne, “but old wives’ tales sometimes ring true.”
For Browne, who had an interest in food production and sustainability from her farming background, the fact that oysters positively impact their environment is another tick in their favour.
All around the coast of Ireland, oyster growers use traditional methods to produce Irish rock oysters (Crassostrea gigas) and native flat oysters (Ostrea edulis), the bivalves acting as filters, improving water quality, sequestering carbon and positively impacting the marine ecosystem of the area. This also has an impact on what they taste like, says Browne.
“Within different bays, there is such a diverse range of flavours. Every bay is impacted by the landscape surrounding it, the flora and fauna, with oysters feeding on that phytoplankton and minerals. Even the saltiness of the water in a bay has an impact.”
With Irish oysters widely available online from producers, at food markets, from fishmongers and in supermarkets like Dunnes and SuperValu from as little as €1 per oyster, they don’t have to be considered a luxury food.
Browne gives pointers for selecting fresh oysters. “They should be alive when they’re sold. They stay fresher for longer. Oysters should be cup side down — the roundy bit down — and closed, not gaping. They should smell like fresh seaweed and the sea. Ideally, if you buy them from an oyster farmer, that’s a guarantee that they’re going to be as fresh as possible. They care that you get a product that is as fresh as can be.”
For Browne, oysters are not just for Valentine’s Day. “I think it’s important to show people that they’re safe to eat and that it’s a food for everyone. [Oysters] are obviously lovely for occasions, but they’re also a very humble kind of food.”
Other Irish foods with an aphrodisiac reputation
Chocolate: Skip the imports and focus on Irish-made quality — the darker, the better. Choose between truffles from Butlers Chocolate (widely available from their cafés), a dark, rich hot chocolate mix at Koko Kinsale (online or in its Kinsale shop), Athlone’s Bon Chocolatiers make a bespoke range of chocolate products for Dunnes along with their own hand-painted chocolates , or go bean-to-bar with Hazel Mountain Chocolate, which sell from its shop in Galway and at their chocolate factory in the Burren.
Caviar: Another of Casanova’s favourites, these small fish eggs are high in omega-3 fatty acids and add a delicious pop of flavour to many dishes. The homegrown trout variety is produced in Kilkenny by Goatsbridge Trout Farm. Find its rainbow trout caviar in fishmongers, speciality shops and at goatsbridgetrout.ie.
Honey: Historically considered a natural aphrodisiac, look for raw or pure Irish honey rather than a blend of EU and non-EU honey.
Catch Sarah Browne’s workshops at All Shucked Up in Howth, The Waterford Festival of Food and the Ballymaloe Festival of Food. More at www.oysome.com and @heyoysome on Instagram.
