Cloves are one of the spices – perhaps the most popular, but also the most mysterious – that can be traced back furthest in history. An Indian text dating back more than two thousand years advises those who wish to have "clean, fresh and fragrant breath" to keep nutmeg and cloves in their mouths. In the seventh century, Su Gong advised those who were to meet the emperor to keep cloves in their mouths (no toothpaste in those days!).
For a long time, its geographical origin was a mystery: there was talk of the "valley of cloves" on an island near India, where sailors would drop off goods on the seashore and, the next day, find cloves in their place. They said they were trading with forest genies.
In fact, cloves originated on the Maluku Islands, before being cultivated more widely on the other Indonesian islands, as well as in Madagascar, Sri Lanka and East Africa.
In seventeenth-century England, cloves were worth almost as much as gold, due to the difficulty of importing them!
The clove tree is a magnificent evergreen that can grow to a height of around ten metres.
It likes a hot, humid tropical climate, so it has made its home spontaneously on tropical islands. Its leaves resemble those of the Laurel and its flowers have beautiful yellow petals that are never seen because the buds are picked before they become stamens. The buds are picked as soon as they start to turn pink. Dried on mats in the sun, they turn dark brown and take on the shape of old nails. During this drying process, they absorb flavours and scents. Cloves contain an essential oil that gives them their distinctive scent, which evaporates when crushed.
Cloves purify the breath, as already mentioned, and cure toothaches, as they have anaesthetic, healing and disinfectant properties.
In cooking, cloves are used in the five Chinese spices and many Indian spice blends. Pushed into an onion, they brings out the flavour of stews, marinades, pasta and hotpots, where the combination with garlic works wonders, as is the case with gingerbread and in certain drinks: herbal teas or scented teas, fruit juices and mulled wines. Cloves go particularly well with apples, pears and oranges. This is why they are used to make pomme d’ambre, a delicate home fragrance. All you have to do is stud an orange with cloves.
