Cloves were important in the earliest spice trade and are believed to be indigenous to the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, of Indonesia. However, nowadays clove is cultured in several parts of the world including Brazil in the state of Bahia. The term ‘Clove’ is derived from the French word ‘Clou’ and the English word ‘Clout’, both meaning ‘nail’- from the likeliness of the flower bud of the Clove tree to a broadheaded nail.
Cloves are a versatile spice that add flavor while also providing health benefits. They are high in antioxidants, may help regulate blood sugar, and can kill bacteria. Clove represents one of the major vegetal sources of phenolic compounds as flavonoids, hidroxibenzoic acids, hidroxicinamic acids and hidroxiphenyl propens.
Cloves are strongly pungent owing to eugenol, which is extracted by distillation to yield oil of cloves. Eugenol is the main bioactive compound of clove, which is found in concentrations ranging from 9 381.70 to 14 650.00 mg per 100 g of fresh plant material.
Whole cloves are either removed before serving or picked out of the dish. Even when cooked, whole cloves have a very hard, woody texture that would be unpleasant to bite into.
Clove is very aromatic, has a fine flavor and imparts warming qualities. It is used as a culinary spice as the flavor blends well with both sweet and savory dishes. Clove is often used to flavor meat products, pastries, cookies, candies, chewing gum, spiced fruits, hot spiced drinks, chocolate drinks, wines and liqueurs, puddings, sandwiches, cakes, curries, and pickles. It's one of the components of garam masala.
Cloves also feature in any number of desserts, especially ground cloves, and particularly around the holidays. It is a common kitchen spice used for studding particularly tomatoes, onions, sausage, soups, salads and herbal teas.
Cloves
