Cloves

Cloves are a pungent warm spice with an intense flavor and aroma. The flavor comes from the compound eugenol. On the tongue, you'll detect sweetness, bitterness, and astringency (drying the mouth), with a noticeable amount of heat. Similar warm spices include nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice. Cloves are a pungent spice found in savory dishes, desserts, and drinks. Ground or whole cloves flavor meat, sauces, and rice dishes. Cloves are often used along with cinnamon and nutmeg in sweet dishes, especially "pumpkin pie" flavored items for the autumn and winter holidays, and in drinks such as mulled wine, cider, or chai. Due it its strong germicidal properties and a compound called Eugenol, clove oil fights dental pain, toothaches, sore gums and mouth ulcers very effectively. Due to its strong aromatic properties, gargling with clove oil and warm water can help you fight bad breath.


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Cloves are a spice made from the flower buds of an evergreen tree called, appropriately enough, the clove tree (Syzygium aromaticum). Clove flower buds are harvested in their immature state and then dried. Whole cloves are shaped like a small, reddish-brown spike, usually around 1 centimeter in length, with a bulbous top. Cloves can be used whole or ground, and they have a very strong, pungent flavor and aroma.

Cloves are grown in India and Madagascar, but Indonesia is most closely associated with the production of cloves. Indeed, so lucrative was the clove trade originating in an island chain once known as the Spice Islands (now part of Indonesia), that in 1667, following the Second Anglo-Dutch War, the British ceded the islands to the Dutch in exchange for a faraway settlement then known as New Amsterdam. Thus did the Dutch swap Manhattan for cloves.

Cloves are a pungent warm spice with an intense flavor and aroma. The flavor comes from the compound eugenol. On the tongue, you'll detect sweetness, bitterness, and astringency (drying the mouth), with a noticeable amount of heat. Similar warm spices include nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice. These are often combined in a pumpkin pie blend. Cloves are much more powerful than these more-tepid flavor cousins and therefore less is used in a recipe or blend. Some people find the flavor of cloves overwhelming and choose to leave this spice out entirely.
The eugenol present in clove helps ease digestion; healthy digestion is key to effective weight loss. Clove also helps rev up metabolism naturally. By fighting free radical activity, cloves may also help give you a beautiful skin. The winter spice may also help regulate blood sugar levels.