Guide to cloves with information on the history of cloves and recipe ideas.

Cloves have a very long history and date back to the times of Ancient China, at least. During that period, around 2500 years ago, cloves were not only used for cooking but also for perfumes, medicines and breath fresheners. Under the Emperors orders, no one was allowed a visitation with him unless they had sucked on a few cloves beforehand.

Cloves were a very expensive and coveted spice. Many wars were fought, mainly between Europeans, in order to gain control over the clove trade and to amass lots of money and profits.

Such was the need to control the clove spice trade that the Dutch burnt down all the clove trees in existence, apart from those that grew on an island that they controlled. Needless to say, the natives of the other islands revolted, particularly as it was tradition to plant a clove tree after the birth of every child on the island and the fate of the child was linked to the fate of their specific clove tree.

Nowadays cloves are cultivated for commercial production in nearby regions such as Zanzibar, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Tanzania and Madagascar, where the tropical climate and soils are optimum.

Cloves are actually a great source of several vitamins and minerals including manganese, Vitamin C, calcium and omega-3 fatty acids.

For years cloves have been used to treat digestive and stomach disorders but most importantly and even still today, clove oil and whole cloves are used to relieve toothache and dentists use clove oil in their fillings, anaesthetics and mouthwashes.

Different cultures and peoples all over the world have found many effective medicinal uses for cloves. Even today medical researchers are studying the properties of cloves and developing new medicines with them.

Cloves are said to have the following qualities and medicinal benefits:

• Cloves contain eugenol, which has anti-inflammatory and antiseptic properties making it useful for sufferers of rheumatism, arthritis and mouth and gum disorders.
• Clove tea may calm the stomach and digestive system, easing gas, flatulence, indigestion, diarrhoea and bloating.
• Helps with nausea and vomiting.
• The Chinese used clove oil to treat fungus infections such as Athlete's Foot.
• Cloves are a good general all over tonic and booster.
• They are a mild local anaesthetic, useful for relieving toothache.
• Cloves have anti-oxidant cancer fighting properties.
• Cloves may act as a mild sedative.
• When boiled with water and gargled, cloves are a good antibacterial mouthwash, which can help to combat bad breath and relieve a sore throat.
• Cloves are said to restore the appetite, which is good for people with eating disorders.
• Cloves are effective at clearing up a number of skin disorders such as acne, sores or ulcers.

Cloves can be bought whole or in the ground form. Whole cloves are much more aromatic and flavoursome and if possible try to buy whole cloves as opposed to the ground powder.

Although some cooking recipes will call for ground clove powder, it is possible for you to grind the whole cloves at home. Using a pestle and mortar to grind the cloves is not the best choice, and if possible try to use an electric grinder of some sort, such as a coffee grinder. If you do not have one to hand, you could place the cloves in a plastic bag and crush them with a hammer.

Another advantage of whole cloves is that they will keep for around 6 months longer than the ground form, lasting for about a year if stored in an airtight container.

Cloves can be used with other spices to create a number of spice blends for meats, curries and meat marinades. Cloves are popular in Asian, African and Middle Eastern cooking and are often used in the above dishes.

If you prefer to use cloves to create a sweet dish, try adding them to apples, pears or rhubarb.

Cloves are actually one of the main ingredients of the world famous Worcestershire sauce and they can be added to other ingredients to make pickles, sauces and chutneys.

Some other ideas include the following:

• Stud an onion with several cloves when making a homemade sauce, stock, broth or stew.
• Embed a few cloves into a piece of meat before cooking.
• Add to cauliflower, broccoli or cabbage dishes and this will aid digestion.
• Use cloves to make bread sauce.
• Use cloves to make mincemeat or a Christmas pudding.
• Add ground cloves to biscuit or cake dough for a spicy sweet treat.
• Add to your mulled wine ingredients.
• Use cloves in your apple sauce.
• Add to stewed fruits such as apples or rhubarb.
• Add to barbecue style sauces.
• Flavour soups with whole cloves.
• Flavour boiled or fried rice with several cloves.
• Use to make sweet breads or muffins.
• Add to pumpkin or sweet potato pie.
• Add to curries and other spicy foods.
• Add to rice pudding and other milk-based sweet dishes.

A number of recipe ideas that include cloves as one of the main ingredients such as bread sauce, caramelised oranges and chicken breast with almonds and prunes.