Close your eyes and try to taste an oyster’s salty kiss. Imagine the curve of a plum, a pomegranate overflowing with luminous, tart, juicy seeds or a tall stalk of white asparagus drenched in a sauce of egg yolks and butter.

When you start to think of eating as a feast for all the senses, it becomes clear why people long have believed that certain foods hold aphrodisiac powers. You can feel the soft, fuzzy flesh of a peach, taste the sweetness of chocolate as it melts on your tongue, see the provocative shape of a mushroom, hear the snap of an apple’s skin as you bite into it, and smell the earthy, musky scent of truffles. Good cooking is like romance – it’s sensual and satisfying, if the chemistry is right.

It’s no wonder most couples celebrate Valentine’s Day with a romantic dinner, a bottle of champagne or a seductive dessert, such as strawberries dipped in chocolate. Quite simply, food puts people in the mood.

Chef Melissa Kelly, who owns Primo restaurant in Rockland with her fiance, Price Kushner, knows the stomach may truly be the way to a lover’s heart – or elsewhere. So she plans her Valentine’s menu accordingly.

“I like to feature foods that are aphrodisiacs,” she said. “We use things like wild mushrooms, artichokes and truffles. Things you can eat with your fingers are good – shrimp, artichokes. We also do things like lobster with vanilla butter, steak for two with truffle butter and, of course, the decadent dessert sweets.”

There’s no science to the seduction of food, though many have tried to quantify it. Some say the scent of cinnamon buns is the only true aphrodisiac for men. Others swear that oysters put them in the mood for love. Encyclopedia Britannica states that the only proven aphrodisiacs are “cantharides and yohimbine, both of which stimulate sexual arousal by irritating the urinary tract when excreted.” One comes from the dried remains of the blister beetle, the other from the bark of the yohimbe tree. One causes human skin to blister on contact. The other is only a stimulus if taken in toxic doses. Ouch.

Chocolate and coffee – both reputed as aphrodisiacs – sound much more fun, but as Isabel Allende writes in “Aphrodite: A Memoir of the Senses,” what turns on one person may not appeal to another.

“How to define an aphrodisiac? Let’s say it is any substance or activity that piques amorous desire,” writes the Chilean novelist best known for her book, “The House of Spirits.” “Some have a scientific basis, but most are activated by the imagination.”

While legendary lover Casanova is said to have eaten 50 oysters every morning, it probably was the texture and the appearance of the shellfish that fanned his flames, rather than any chemical effect. On the other hand, the caffeine in coffee is reputed to stimulate sexual desire. Eggs, nuts, caviar and seeds such as pomegranate are thought to be aphrodisiacs because of the role they play in reproduction. Some people consider alcohol an aphrodisiac because it causes them to shed their inhibitions, but a few too many drinks can kill the mood – physically and mentally.

Sandra Caron, a professor of family relationships at the University of Maine who teaches a class in human sexuality, didn’t have much to say about the scientific validity of aphrodisiacs. She did say the context of a meal probably is more arousing than the content, though.

“People are always looking for the ultimate pleasure,” Caron said. “Well, I guess it depends where you’re eating the food.”

In other words, feeding your lover breakfast in bed is probably more of a turn-on than throwing back shots in a bar, even if alcohol brings out your wild side. And even the most sensuous foods can be ho-hum if you’re in a rush. There’s nothing sexy about scarfing down oysters between soccer practice and “Will and Grace.”

As for dieting, forget about it. There’s nothing seductive about washing down lettuce with a Slim-Fast. Even if it does taste like chocolate.

“I repent of my diets, the delicious dishes rejected out of vanity, as much as I lament the opportunities that I let go by because of pressing tasks or puritanical virtue,” Allende wrote.

Unfortunately for Kelly and her fiance, they do have pressing tasks – Valentine’s Day is one of the busiest days of the year for restaurants. If they could, they’d have a decadent feast, but instead, they’ll just have to steal kisses in the kitchen.

“If Price and I happened to be at home on a Valentine’s Day, I would probably make something simple and fun like fondue,” she said. “Maybe start with a special cocktail – which we will be serving at Primo on Wednesday – a passion fruit and champagne cocktail. Then I think we’d finish up with either a silky creme brulee or maybe a molten chocolate cake.”

It beats yohimbe bark and blister beetle any day.

Melissa Kelly’s Artichokes with Lemon Aioli

4 globe artichokes, medium sized

1 cup white wine

Juice of 1 lemon

2 bay leaves

2 sprigs fresh basil

1 teaspoon coriander seeds (whole)

1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

Water (to cover, see recipe)

5 garlic cloves (smashed)

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

To prepare artichokes, cut off the top thorny tip (about 1 inch, best to use a serrated knife), and trim off bottom of stem, removing some outer leaves, leaving 1 or 2 inches. Trim outer layer of skin around bottom with a sharp paring knife. Place artichokes upside down in a casserole dish and add the rest of the ingredients (including enough water to cover the artichokes). Cover, and bake in oven until bottoms are tender (about 1 hour).

Serve each with a dollop of lemon aioli or use on the side as a dipping sauce.

Serves 4.

Melissa Kelly’s Classic Fondue

1 clove garlic

1 lb. Gruyere cheese

1/2 lb. Emmentaler cheese

11/2 cups dry white wine (Kelly suggests Neufchatel)

1 teaspoon lemon juice

4 teaspoons cornstarch

11/2 tablespoons Kirsch

2-3 turns of the pepper mill

Pinch fresh grated nutmeg

Use an unglazed fondue pot. Rub inside of pot with garlic.

Grate cheeses and mix together in the pot. Add wine, lemon juice and cornstarch. Over stove burner, stir with a wooden spoon (in a figure 8 motion) until cheese melts. Stir in Kirsch, pepper and nutmeg. Cook until smooth and creamy, then transfer pot to a fondue burner.

Dunking suggestions: cubed bread, bread sticks, fruit (apple and pear slices), purple and red bliss potatoes. Be sure to stir as you dunk!

Makes 6-8 servings.

Melissa Kelly’s Damariscotta River Oyster Pan Roast

12 oysters (shelled- save all liquor)

4 ounces crawfish tails (can buy frozen) from the shell

1 bunch green onions chopped, keep whites and greens separate

1 clove garlic, minced

4 ounces tasso ham, cut in a julienne

Cracked black pepper, to taste

1cup heavy cream, to taste

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt, to taste

Tabasco, to taste

Shuck Oysters, over a bowl, reserving the juices. Scrape and wash the bottom half of the shell. Reserve.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium sized skillet, add ham and sweat for about 1 minute. Add white part of the scallion, sweat until translucent (about 1 minute), add garlic and cook for another minute. Add oysters and juice. Bring this mixture to a boil, add cream and pepper. Bring back to a boil and reduce by half. Finish with crawfish tails, scallion greens and Tabasco. Adjust seasoning. Place shells on a bed of rock salt and peppercorns and put in a warm oven until ready to serve. Spoon the oyster mixture into the warm shells and serve immediately. This dish is great with champagne or a crisp white wine.

Serves 6.

Charlotte for Lovers

In “Aphrodite,” Isabel Allende writes that this dessert is “saturated with aphrodisiacs: chocolate, nuts, coffee, liqueur, eggs!”

1 ounce bittersweet chocolate

2 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons butter

2 eggs, separated

2 tablespoons ground walnuts

1/2 cup strong, black coffee

1 tablespoon cognac

4 ladyfingers or similar cookies, crushed

Cr?me Chantilly (whipping cream with powdered sugar and vanilla extract)

Break up the chocolate and melt it with the water in a double boiler. Add the sugar and butter, and beat well. Add the egg yolks one by one, continuing to beat well. Cook for 5 minutes and remove from the heat. Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold into the chocolate mixture along with the walnuts. Gently add the coffee, cognac and cookies to the mixture. Spoon into 2 sherbet goblets and top with Cr?me Chantilly.

Makes 2 servings.

Recipe used with permission of Harper Perennial books.