Recently, I watched an episode of Come Dine With Me, a British cookery challenge show, and I was most interested by one of the cooks, a beetroot (beet) farmer, who created a full dinner-party menu incorporating beetroot into each dish! What was most interesting was his explanation that beetroot is in fact an aphrodisiac, which came as a surprise to me.

Following the show, I looked up beetroot and discovered that it is indeed an aphrodisiac, and was lauded as such even as long ago as in Roman days. In fact, in the ruins at Pompeii you can still see paintings of beetroot on the walls of brothels.

In addition, scientists speculate that the vegetable may help prevent against heart disease and stroke, and it has been shown to lower blood pressure and improve stamina.

Well, clearly this is a vegetable I must eat more often! So I dusted down my cookery books and looked for an ideal aphrodisiac recipe. Chocolate being another wonderful aphrodisiac, I chose this recipe to combine the two. I can vouch for the fact that these brownies are delicious, gooey and decadent while including one of your five-a-day portions of fruit and vegetables. And the purplish colour to them makes them really unusual; somewhat regal, in fact.

Ingredients:

500g fresh beetroot boiled until soft and then pureed in a blender (I bought the pre-prepared kind from the supermarket, but you can boil the root veg and then skin them)

200g fine plain chocolate

100g unsalted butter

250g caster sugar

100g plain sifted flour

25g sifted cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 medium eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4.

2. Grease and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

3. Melt the chocolate and butter over a bowl of hot water.

4. Stir together the chocolate, butter, beetroot puree and vanilla extract.

5. Beat together the eggs and sugar until foamy.

6. Fold in the chocolate and beetroot mixture, and then the flour and cocoa powder.

7. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake until firm to the touch; about 40–50 minutes. Allow to cool before slicing up.

Feed liberally to your partner, and then sit back and wait for fireworks!