DIY Damiana Love Potion

I love to make boozy cordials and elixirs! The glittering bottles of colorful alcohol make wonderful gifts and really brighten up a home bar. You can check out my popular guide to Making Cordials, Tinctures, and Elixirs if you want to read up on the basics of DIY-infused booze.

One of my most popular cordials is my Damiana Love Potion Cordial. For many years now I’ve brought bottles of delicious, heady Damiana booze to festivals and gatherings to share with loved ones. A sip is usually accompanied by a naughty giggle, and sometimes even a nice little dancing wiggle!

Damiana is a flowering herb that grows in the southwest United States, Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies. It is an aphrodisiac herb with a unique flavor and aroma that is rather woody, almost like cedar or sandalwood. I am quite fond of damiana in both flavor and effect, and I have rhapsodized about beautiful Damiana before.

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Damiana Love Potion Cordial

1. Play some sexy music and set the mood. (optional, but encouraged! A little bit of dancing helps, too)

2. Fill your jar of choice half-full with damiana. It’s rather fluffy and you don’t have to mash it down.

3. Add any other herbs that make you feel tingly, happy, and naughty. I like to add a sprinkle of rose petals, a vanilla bean, some honeysuckle flowers, or even a bit of horny goat weed or Muira Pauma. (Find more aphrodisiac herbs listed here at the Herbal Academy)

4. Add booze and fill the jar to the top.  I prefer to use quality, clean-flavored vodka. Gin, white rum, or brandy are good options to use, but ultimately, choose whatever booze you like.

5. Close the jar, give it a few good shakes to mix it all together, and label the jar with your ingredients and the date. Put the jar into a dark cabinet. Shake it occasionally, if you think of it.

6. Give it at least one week to mix together, but it is stronger (and more bitter) if you leave it longer. Strain the mixture through a clean cloth or cheesecloth and squeeze all of the liquid out of the herbs. Add the herbs to your compost.

7. Make a sugar syrup or honey syrup to sweeten the mixture to your preferred taste.  The cordial in the picture above was sweetened with honey, hence the near opaque quality of the delicious nectar!

This cordial will keep for a good long time, and only gets better with age. I must admit that I’ve not been able to keep a bottle around for more than a year because it gets used up!

Enjoy it with a lovely person and have a spectacular time of it, won’t you?