Do you love spices?
I do, on my new found passion for spices and their unlimited health benefits, here is my combined research and interesting fact find on cloves.
A Little Bit About Cloves
Cloves are dried aromatic flower buds. When you take a closer look at a clove you can clearly see the very distinctive shape of the stem and bud. The evergreen tree, Myrtaceae, Syzygium aromaticum, that the flowering buds are harvested from grows between 8 and 12 meters in height. The flowers when not opened are removed and dried. With large leaves that you might expect from a tropical tree and blood red flowers clove trees are native to Indonesia and the Maluku Islands and are commercially grown in India, Madagascar, Zanzibar, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
What are Cloves?
Cloves are yet another super spice packed with nutrients and natural health benefits.
Like each spice has their own distinctive smell, cloves have a potent intense aroma and flavour. Good quality cloves are fat, oily, and dark red almost black in colour, and give out their oil when squeezed with the finger-nail.
When used in western cooking they are commonly used with fruits like apples, pears and rhubarb and are a key ingredient in making a Garam Masala spice blend which is common to North Indian Cooking. Cloves, in small quantities, are commonly used in many other Indian recipes and are a fantastic flavour enhancer. This little gem of a spice is used in quite a few of the recipes I write about at The Picante Kitchen and have been part of my staple diet of spices since childhood.
Not limited to Indian recipes, cloves are also used in Mexican dishes and often accompanied by cumin and cinnamon in the way they are used in cooking in Mexico.
When I was discussing this blog post with my husband he recollected the following story from his school days: Winter term treats where he was schooling used to be apples that had their core taken out and a spiced mixture put in the middle. The apples were then popped in the oven to cook. The exact ingredients of the mixture still remains a little of a mystery to him, although he is sure cloves, because of their very distinctive smell, butter and raisins were involved. As he lived at his school these little treats were delicious and something they all looked forward to on the rare occasion they were made by the head master.
The History Of Cloves
Cloves were one of the first globally traded spices, going as far back as 1721 B.C.E. Cloves were highly prized in both the West and the Far East, owing to high use by the Romans and the Chinese, which led to it quickly rising to become one of the most expensive spices money could buy at that time.
During the Han Dynasty, in China, cloves were used as breath fresheners and Arabs have been known to have traded in cloves for centuries.
The Uses Of Cloves
Like many of the spices available cloves have long been used in Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine. Cloves are also found to be used in Tibetan medicine.
Whole cloves contain eugenol, a substance believed to relieve toothache pain. Cloves are still an ingredient used in many toothpastes today. As a child I grew up with the knowledge that if ever we had a tooth ache a clove placed in the affected tooth brought instant relief. By dabbing a small amount of clove oil on a cotton bud and rubbing the sore tooth or gum the clove oil will help not only with the pain but also help fight any infection.
The essential oil from cloves is used in aromatherapy and has a warming effect.
The essential oils found in cloves have fantastic purifying and anesthetic properties that help kill harmful bacteria.
The 20 Health Benefits Of Cloves
Cloves are absolutely bursting with antioxidants, antiseptic, anti-fungal and analgesic properties.
As always just to let you know that all the health benefits of cloves I suggest concerning the use of spices should be used sensibly and in moderation. Although cloves like every other spice has so many health benefits they can also be an irritant so please be careful and don’t over do it.
- A study in 2006 indicated that cloves can help lower your blood sugar levels. This is achieved by cloves by simulating an insulin-like activity that helps combat insulin intolerance.
- Cloves can also help significantly reduce your body’s cholesterol. An American heart association study shows that cloves stimulate enzymatic activity that helps reduce triglyceride in your body and therefore lower cholesterol.
- Clove oil can help relieve nausea and vomiting and also help if you are suffering from morning sickness.
- Cloves also help improves peristalsis and keeps acidity rising to your throat. Peristalsis is the action of the stomach muscles that keeps your food within our gut.
- Cloves have carnative properties that help your body digest food. This is also one of the reasons that cloves are offered as a mouth freshener after meals and they keep your breath fresh and aid in digesting the food consumed.
- The essential oils in cloves can help fight stomach ulcers, reduce stomach irritations and help kill bacteria.
- The antiviral properties in clove oil help boost your immune system by helping the body purify your blood. The antioxidant properties of cloves can also help reduce the risk of heart disease and have anti-carcinogenic properties.
- Drinking warm water with a mixture of clove oils and honey 2 / 3 times a day can help if you are suffering from a cold, sore throat, cough or phlegm and as a preventative measure can help prevent you getting flu.
- As part of a tea, with other spices, herbs and honey, cloves can help give you a sense of calm and relieve stress.
- The aroma and fragrance of cloves can help lift the mind and body helping you shake off the feeling of tiredness and fatigue.
- Not only can a clove oil massage help sooth sore muscles reducing any inflammation it can also be used to help the pain suffered from arthritis and rheumatism.
- Very diluted (1 part in a 100) clove oil can help with spots, pimples, blackheads and whiteheads.
- Clove oil is a natural exfoliate and can help remove blemishes and dead skin. Clove oils are often used in spa treatments.
- Clove oil contains some of the vitamins and minerals you body needs – Vitamin A and C, potassium, sodium, phosphorus and magnesium.
- Clove essential oil can help relive the irritation caused by skin rashes.
- Applied to a sting, cut or bite the natural anesthetic properties of clove oil helps soothe the pain.
- If you suffer from a fungal skin infection or athlete’s foot clove oil can help treat the problem.
- Clove oil can help if you are suffering from a headache or migraine.
- Clove oil has flavoniods which are anti-inflammatory and helps with tension and is a relaxant.
- Clove oil if applied to your abdomen can help with digestion.
Are you amazed how versatile spices are and how good they are for you? I am so completely in awe of the discoveries and benefits of spices. I hope you begin to appreciate that spices are not only for cooking but have a very long history of being used in all types of medicine, Ayurveda and are generally fantastic for your health and well-being.
In conclusion cloves are yet another super spice that really needs to be included in your diet in some shape or form.