This Valentine's Day, bring some fire into your relationship.

And while you're at it, put it under a pot of melted cheese or gooey chocolate, and indulge your sweetheart's stomach in the process.

Yum!

If you're looking for an easy - and inexpensive - way to treat your Valentine to dinner, fondue is the way to go.

Ronnie Campbell, a representative of Jarlsberg cheese, said she likes the fondue experience because it creates an intimate setting for dinner.

"Even though it has that communal kind of feel to it, it's not a meal you'd want to share with everybody," she said. "To me, the act of sharing a fondue is a somewhat intimate experience to enjoy with a spouse, partner, boyfriend or girlfriend."

To put together a fondue dinner at home, you need to start with a fondue pot - and many couples probably received one as a wedding present that was promptly stored in the closet. Well, it's time to break it out.

Along with the pot comes long-stemmed forks for dipping, plus some kind of constant heat source, such as a can of Sterno.

You can start your Valentine's date off with a cheese fondue course, but be cautious of what type of cheese you choose.

Donald Waara, owner of Vine and Cheese in Gainesville, recommended two types of cheese traditionally used in fondue.

"The classic is Gruyere and Emmenthal ... just because that's the way it's always been done," he said. "They've got a real rich flavor to them."

And Campbell added that the Norwegian Jarlsberg cheese, which is a nutty-flavored baby Swiss cheese, also works well.

"Jarlsberg, a part-skim milk cheese, is lovely for a fondue because of its great melt-ability," she said "... and it has similar properties to a Swiss or an Emmenthal, even a Gruyere."

And Jarlsberg cheese also can be mixed with other cheeses in fondue for versatility.

"So often times it can be used - not only by itself in a fondue - very nicely with other cheeses that are great for fondues, like Fontina and Gruyere and of course Emmenthal," Campbell said.

But as simple as fondue is to make, there is one necessary step in order to get the right cheese consistency: adding flour.

"The trick is, which everyone forgets, is you must add flour to the cheese," said Mark Gunn, co-owner of The Melting Pot in Duluth and three other Atlanta locations. "If you don't add the flour or the cornstarch to the cheese you can't get to the proper consistency of warm honey." The Melting Pot is a chain of restaurants that only serves fondue.

The Jarlsberg Fondue recipe recommends tossing shredded cheese with flour before adding it to the fondue pot, and in the meantime let white wine and garlic simmer in the pot. Add just half of the cheese and melt, but do not let it boil. Then, add the rest of the cheese and other spices; then the fondue is ready for dipping.

Popular dippers for cheese fondue are cubes of bread, apples, carrots, shrimp, mushrooms and cauliflower - really anything that can be cut into bite size pieces.

After enjoying cheese fondue it's on to dessert - and chocolate fondue.

Tim Williams suggested using Belgian chocolate.

"Our product is a Belgian chocolate and the reason why we use that is because of the butter content; it stays a thinner consistency," said Williams, owner of Green Gables catering and The Olive Branch, a new restaurant in North Hall. "I say it's sort of what Paula Deen says: ‘Butter makes it better.' Anything with a high content of butter is going to work the best."

At The Melting Pot, Gunn said they use imported Swiss chocolate. Guests are encouraged to add what they like to the chocolate fondue, such as liqueur or flavorings, to customize their dessert - which you could always do at home, too.

"We have milk chocolate, white chocolate and dark chocolate, it's not just a Hershey's chocolate," he said. "It's all about the percentage of cocoa in it, which makes it really rich and creamy compared to if you just melted down a chocolate bar. The consistency would not be the same as our chocolate."

A simple and classic chocolate fondue recipe from Fonduebits.com says to simply add bittersweet or semisweet chocolate to heavy cream and cognac or liqueur for the dessert.

Ideas for dippers are angel food cake, pound cake, cheesecake, marshmallows, cookies and any fruit ready for a swim in sweet heaven.