Hand-in-‘c’love with a spice

What is it that makes the clove so endearing to you? I think toothache!? I remember the first time a toothpaste was heavily pushed in the market as one containing clove oil. Clove oil has been grandma’s, sorry, great grandma’s recipe for toothache for aeons. It is a natural analgesic and antiseptic used primarily in dentistry for its main ingredient eugenol. It forms an essential ingredient of many a Ayurvedic masages. It is also counted as a good digestive aid and also, (this could be informative!), as the oil used in ‘oil’ painting. The anti-oxidant effects of the clove oil delays the oxidation of the drying oils (linseed, safflower, poppy, walnut) in the paint on the palette. In early writings from the Han dynasty in China it is reported that anyone having an audience with the emperor had to chew cloves to sweeten their breaths and mask any undesirable smells. Laung, the Hindi name for clove, is also the name of a traditional jewellery. This word is used extensively in folk songs while describing the beauty of a woman.

Cloves, though native to Indonesia, are used as a spice in cuisines all over the world. The name is derived from French word clou, a nail, as the buds vaguely resemble small irregular nails in shape. Cloves can be used in cooking either whole or in a ground form, but as they are extremely strong, they are used sparingly. The spice is used throughout Europe and Asia and is smoked in a type of cigarette locally known as kretek in Indonesia. Cloves are also an important incense material in Chinese and Japanese culture.

Cloves for the cooks

Cloves have a warm strongly aromatic perfume and flavour that is sweet and somewhat penetrating. They can be quite bitter on their own, but the heat of cooking tempers their flavour, making them an uncommon spice in everyday cooking (though no kitchen should be without a jar of cloves). For cooks, clove is an important spice, whether you be making the garam masala in India, or the quatre epices in France or the pudding spice in Britain. Cloves have historically been used in Indian cuisine (both North Indian and South Indian) as well as in Mexican cuisine, where it is often paired together with cumin and cinnamon. In North Indian cuisine, it is an essential part of whole and powdered garam masala. Moghlai food cannot do without cloves in the biryanis and puloas. It is also used to add extra flavour to chai masala. Cloves are also used for decorating dishes especially if you want to depict eyes or nose. In sweets like Lavang Latika it is used to secure the folds. 

Page from the history book

Cloves, along with nutmeg and pepper, were highly prized in Roman times, and it was complained that “there is no year in which India does not drain the Roman Empire of fifty million coins”. Cloves were traded by Arabs during the Middle Ages in the profitable Indian Ocean trade. In the late fifteenth century, Portugal took over the Indian Ocean trade, including cloves. The Portuguese brought large quantities of cloves to Europe. Clove was then one of the most valuable spices, a kilogram costing around 7 grams of gold.

A visit to the farm

Clove is actually a single dried flower bud of a tree in the family Myrtaceae. Harvested primarily in Zanzibar, Indonesia and Madagascar, clove trees are also grown in Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka. The clove tree is an evergreen which grows to a height ranging from 10-20 metres, having large oval leaves and crimson flowers in numerous groups of terminal clusters. The flower buds are at first of a pale colour and gradually become green, after which they develop into a bright red, when they are ready for collecting. 

Cloves are harvested when 1.5-2 centimetre long. The tree flowers twice every year and it is the unopened buds, which are harvested once the outer green leaves (calyx) have changed from green to a yellow pink. The buds are harvested in clusters by hand and care is taken not to over pick which would result in a reduction of future crop yields. The buds are then detached from the stalks, still by hand and dried separately. The buds must be dried very quickly to prevent them from fermenting. This is done in the sun on mats and usually takes 4-5 days during which time they are raked over for even colouring. By the end of the drying process, the cloves have become brittle and dark brown. These are then winnowed to remove dust.

Use in the kitchen

First and foremost remember that cloves are aromatic so they have to be kept in airtight containers in a cool dark place. The mixed spice or pudding spice of Britain is common to many festive cakes and biscuits, Christmas pudding, mincemeat, gingerbread, spiced cakes and breads, bread sauce, pickles, mulled wine, fruit cakes, marinades for game, chutneys and stewed fruit dishes. A clove studded onion will add depth of flavour to broths for boiled meats. Another English mixture is the pickling spice. It is used when making pickled fruits, vegetables and chutneys and spiced vinegar. Quatre Epices (meaning four spices) is a French spice mixture used in slowly cooked meat and poultry dishes. The composition varies but is based generally on black peppercorns, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Our garam masala has cumin, coriander seeds, cardamoms, black peppercorns, cloves, mace, bay leaf and cinnamon. The Chinese Five Spice, Moroccan Ras el Hanout and the very English Worcestershire Sauce all use clove as a major ingredient.

Other uses

If you have a surplus of cloves, sprinkle the ground spice on your carpets and rugs. Let sit for about half and hour then clean using a vacuum cleaner. If you still have surplus, sprinkle cloves in your stored woollens or delicate clothing as they are better substitutes of naphthalene balls.