Cloves

Cloves are a great addition to flavor your curries or to give aroma to your hot beverages.  Widely used across continents, they are also known for medicinal properties.

Clove (Syzygium aromaticum) is one of the most loved and well-utilized spices in the entire world. Its distinct sweet and spicy aroma lends dishes and pastries a unique depth in flavor that you can pinpoint once you take a bite.

Till very recently, cloves grew only on a few islands in the Moluccas (historically called the Spice Islands), including Bacan, Makian, Moti, Ternate, and Tidore. In fact, the clove tree that experts believe is the oldest in the world, named Afo, is on Ternate. The tree is between 350 and 400 years old. Tourists are told that seedlings from this very tree were stolen by a Frenchman named Pierre Poivre in 1770, transferred to the Isle de France (Mauritius), and then later to Zanzibar, which was once the world's largest producer of cloves.

They have been consumed in Asia for more than 2,000 years. Owing to their sweet and fragrant taste, Chinese courtiers dating back to 200 BC would keep them in their mouths in order to freshen their breath when addressing the emperor so as to not offend him. Arab traders brought cloves to Europe around the 4th century, although they did not come into widespread use until the Middle Ages when they became prized for their pungent flavor that served to mask the taste of poorly preserved foods.

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Since cloves have a very intense flavor, especially those that have been ground, care should be taken when deciding how much to use in a recipe so as to not overpower the flavors of the other ingredients. The easiest way to grind whole cloves into a powder is to use a coffee grinder.

Cloves — used in Asian, Mexican and European cooking — generally accompany spices such as cinnamon and cardamom. 

Cloves are commonly used to flavor hot drinks, such as hot apple ciders and mulled wines. They are a key ingredient in many chai spice mixtures and are often added to coffee in the Ethiopian coffee ceremony.