Julie Moline tries tomato paste under the heat lamp – and a spritz of red wine.

Bored with traditional Swedish massage? Tried the hot-rocks massage, Reiki and reflexology, all of which seem to be hurtling down the far slope of the fad curve?

The latest trend at upscale spas involves the use of whole foods in skin and body treatments. Fruits, vegetables, seeds, coffee, honey, egg whites, herbs and spices – unprocessed save for a bit of mashing and stirring – are now showing up on spa menus as frequently as restaurant menus.

At Auberge du Soleil in California’s Napa Valley, the spa’s body and facial treatments use luscious ingredients indigenous to the region. Olives, rosemary and Meyer lemons are used in skin treatments and massages, and crushed grape seeds are used for body polishing. (Grape seeds exfoliate more gently than other abrasive substances like salt and nut husks; the high oil content in the seed is soothing.) Skin masks use extracts of tomato and olive leaf, herbs like thyme, rosemary and lavender, and botanicals like rose hips. A facial ends with a refreshing spritz of red wine. Because most of these ingredients are harvested seasonally, the menu of services changes depending on what time of the year you go.

If the food in spa treatments in Napa seems Mediterranean, in Dallas it’s more Tex-Mex. The Crescent Court’s spa offers up the Texas barbecue wrap; a piquant, unctuous mixture of honey, tomato paste, spices and cayenne pepper is slathered on your skin before you’re wrapped up in linens to baste, bake and soften under a heat lamp.

Spa-ing in Hawaii? The Mauna Lea Resort uses local papaya and pineapple in body facials and local black salts, Hawaiian sugar cane and Kona coffee in body scrubs.

Back on the mainland, at Esperanza Resort in Cabo San Lucas, the food used in treatments is presented in small ceramic bowls on a tray, the way it would be served in the restaurant. Besides being really beautiful, it’s also clear that the papaya, limes, avocados and coconut the spa uses are impeccably fresh.

Alimentary, my dear Watson

Is there some kind of therapeutic benefit to this use of food, beyond a mouth-watering scent and an appealing lack of preservatives, binders, emulsifiers, polysyllabic mystery chemicals? Happily, yes.  The fruit acids in citrus have a  clear clinical benefit; they encourage new cell growth in the skin.  The capsaicin in cayenne increases blood flow. The oil in avocado and cocoa is a moisturizer. Honey is both an antiseptic and an emollient.

Find more yummy spa treatments at these five spas:

• The Grand Traverse Resort and Spa in Michigan. Cherries grown in the resort’s literal back yard contain chemical properties that increase hydration, soften dry skin and stimulate cell growth. The spa menu includes a cherry honey glow, which uses a combination of fruit, honey, Jojoba oil and Dead Sea salt. The cherry essence massage substitutes the sweet smell of cherries for an aromatic oil like lavender or eucalyptus. Spa guests are treated to iced cherry-water, a nice change from the more ubiquitous lemon infusions.
•  The Anara Spa at the Hyatt Regency Kauai. The honey ginger body masque is particularly gentle on skin that’s been made tender from too much sun. Ingredients include fresh ground ginger root, raw turbinado sugar, orange peel, red rose petals, oats, cornmeal, honey, coconut, grape seed oil, kukiu (candlewood) nut oil, and essential oils of ginger and lemongrass.
• The Spa at Pebble Beach, Monterrey, Calif. The strawberry scrub begins with a light exfoliation (the seeds are gentle scrubbers) and ends with an aromatherapy massage. The huckleberry herbal body wrap uses 100% linen sheets steeped in a heated blend of huckleberries and herbs native to the Monterey Peninsula’s Del Monte Forest.
• Hotel Hershey in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Here, the spa features-no surprise-chocolate in treatments. The whipped cocoa bath is set up in a deep whirlpool tub, where you soak in what’s essentially foaming chocolate milk. The body polish uses crushed cocoa bean husks and walnut shells as exfoliant agents; the cocoa butter scrub uses cocoa butter, an emollient, meadow flowers (for scent) and oats, a natural skin soother. There’s even a chocolate fondue wrap, in which you’re covered in warmed mud that looks and smells like cocoa, then are wrapped in a soft, warm blanket. It may sound regressive-playing with mud and playing with your food-but judging from the dreamy looks on the guests’ faces, this may be the best way to enjoy chocolate without having it end up on your hips.

Websites

Auberge du Soleil, www.aubergedusoleil.com

Crescent Court, www.crescentcourt.com

Mauna Lani Resort, www.maunalani.com

Esperanza Resort, www.esperanzaresort.com

The Grand Traverse Resort and Spa, www.grandtraverseresort.com

Hyatt Regency Kauai, http://kauai.hyatt.com/property/index.jhtml

The Lodge at Pebble Beach, www.pebblebeach.com

The Hotel Hershey, Hotel Road, Box 400, Hershey, PA 17033;  www.hersheypa.com