Rose and Damiana Chocolate Bark
I was experimenting recently with different flavor combinations for an herbal tea for my daughter when I came upon my stash of damiana powder. Daminana (Turnera diffusa) a not so commonly used medicinal plant that tastes amazing! It has a deep heady floral flavor with a slightly bitter note. It grows from southern Texas all the way to South America. It has serrated green leaves and lovely little yellow flowers (that sounds like a lot of medicinal plants).
Damiana was historically used as an aphrodisiac in South America (though to see the benefits of that you would need to take it daily for about a month). However, it’s also been studied as digestive tonic, kidney tonic and mood enhancer as well as a helping with menstrual disorders.
Since it tastes really fantastic and can help enhance digestion I thought it might be fun to use it in a treat combined with rose petals. Then I remembered my lavender chocolate bark and knew immediately what I should do! Rose and Damiana Chocolate bark. The combination of roses and damiana is absolutely divine. It is sweet, floral, and heady. It’s hard to describe a taste that isn’t in our typical flavor pallet. I used a dark chocolate for this bark. Feel free to use any kind you like. And yes, this looks a whole lot like my rose and chocolate soap, but this one you can eat it all you want!
Rose and Damiana Chocolate Bark Recipe
Ingredients:
1 cup of chocolate
tablespoon of dried rose petals
teaspoon of damiana powder
Directions:
Melt the chocolate on low heat in pan stirring constantly so it doesn’t burn (alternatively microwave at 30 intervals stirring in-between each time). Once the chocolate is melted, thoroughly mix in 1/2 teaspoon of damiana powder. Then pour out the melted chocolate on to a parchment lined baking sheet and spread to about 1/4-1/8 inch thick, just depends on how thin you like your bark to be. Sprinkle on the rose petals and remaining damiana powder. Allow to cool and set.
Enjoy!
PS. You maybe wondering where you can get damiana powder and rose petals. Mountain Rose Herbs is one of my favorite bulk herb stores.
Note: I am not medical doctor, any medicinal information about plants is purely for educational purposes only.
