The many uses of cloves

The idea is simple. Pick something, dry it, and use it later. Not really very long ago, that was preservation. The clove flower was no exception and to this day, picking and drying is how it goes.

The clove in your cupboard is the dried flower bud from the tropical Clove evergreen native to the Spice Islands. It is highly fragrant and grows up to 50 feet tall. Harvesting trees are kept to about 30 feet. “In the days of sea travel by the great shipping line,” Toussaint-Samat writes, setting the scene of great passenger ships and the “wonderful scent of cloves, telling them they were approaching the island even while they were still far out to sea.”

Cloves are picked when mature but before the yellow petals of the flower open. They are dried in the sun and will lose 66% of their weight in the drying.

Tanzania and Indonesia produce the vast quantity of cloves, with Tanzania producing nearly 80% of the world’s cloves.

Everything but Dragons

The history of cloves “has everything: mystery, exoticism, intrigues, fights, assassinations, wicked villains and virtuous heroes, great sailing ships and small traders.”

Cloves have been traced back to the Han Dynasty, 2nd century, BCE, where heads of state must freshen their breath with a “‘bird’s tongue’”, a clove. The courtier must sweeten his breath to dare speak to the “delicate person of his sovereign.”

Europeans learned of cloves in the 4th century due to Arab traders selling them and other spices. As we’ve seen in other spices, their reign didn’t last long as the Portuguese broke that monopoly and held their own monopoly on cloves, and spices in general, until the Dutch muscled them out and took control.

The Dutch were quite vicious in keeping control of the clove. To maintain their monopoly that in places which grew cloves which might compete they “massacred or expelled all the English, . . . forced natives to destroy all the clove trees except those growing on the islands of Ternate and Amboina . . . and kept a jealous watch on the plantations as if they were a state secret.”

Let’s Do The Time Warp

During the next few hundred years, nearly every culture has found a use for cloves. The Indians use them curries, the French as a flavor in Sauce Béchamel or in Boeuf en daube provençale, as a flavor in Worcestershire sauce, in pickling spice blends, as a flavoring in rice dishes and as incense and the Chinese use it in their 5 spice powder. It is used in a variety of ways, including in a marinade for meats.

Cloves pair well with the spices of the Spice Islands area, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg and compliment green beans, beets, beef, winter squash, puddings, and mincemeat pie, mulled beverages and marinades as well as north African dishes, Morocco, Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Russia and, of course, an Easter ham.

Is It Safe?

The human mouth is a messy place. Stewing about in an average mouth are some 700 bacteria, some good, some not. Cloves play nicely with the good bacteria which can produce low-level hydrogen peroxide which keeps the bad guys under control. Even more impressive than that is clove oil’s contribution to helping reduce the risk of heart disease. “A 2016 study in Oral Health and Coronary Heart Disease found that a common bacteria associated with periodontal disease, Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis), invaded endothelial cells as well as atheromatous tissues, creating a pathogenetic link between periodontal disease and coronary heart disease. Further studies have proven clove oil’s effectiveness against P. gingivalis.” Just like the visiting dignitaries in China, keep some cloves nearby for fresh breath and a healthy heart.

A Little Goes A Long Way

When I was a young man and a younger cook, the oft-heard advice about herbs and spices was if you can taste it, you’ve used too much. That was as puzzling and ill-advised then as it is now.

I have a preference for bold flavors. Even with that, there seems little reason to add fresh thyme to a dish only to not taste it.

Cloves, like many dried spices, but in particular, is quite potent so overpowering is easy to do. I recently made basmati rice and put 5 cloves into the 2 cups of water and it was very nicely accented. I was feeding 2 kids who are quite fickle when they want to be, and it was eagerly eaten by both. To avoid the issue of stuff in the rice, I put the cloves in a mesh tea strainer.

Here are some links to affiliate sites where you can find a clove grinder as well as some spices from OliveNation. When you purchase from any affiliate links, I earn a small commission at no cost to you.
Spice Grinder from Amazon
Fennel Seed from Amazon
Fresh Spices & Gourmet Spice Blends from Savory Spice