Cloves

Botanical Name: Syzygium aromaticum

Flavor: Warm, Sweet, Pungent, slightly Bitter, Astringent, with a mild Numbing Sensation

Origin: Sri Lanka

Use With: Beef, Chicken, Pork, Lamb, Duck, Fish, Seafood, Fruit, Vegetables, and Baked Goods

Description: One of the oldest and most popular spices in the world, Cloves are used whole and ground in a wide variety of savory dishes, drinks, and desserts. Rich red brown in color, pungent and highly aromatic, cloves are the dried flower buds of the clove tree native to Indonesia and are an essential flavor component in innumerable traditional dishes among a large array of cultures spanning the globe. Their common name ‘Clove’ comes from the French word ‘Clou’ (a derivative of the Latin word ‘Clavus’) meaning ‘nail’ and refers to their shape resembling a small spike nail or tack. An important ingredient in India’s Garam Masala, China’s Five Spice, America’s Pumpkin Pie Spice, the Middle East’s Baharat, North Africa’s Ras el Hanout, Worcestershire Sauce, and even Ketchup, cloves add their depth, warmth, richness, and unmistakable aroma to just about any type of food and drink you can think of!

Suggested Uses:

• Add whole or ground cloves to marinades, sauces, soups, stews, braises, and pickle brines to add a warm richness and enticing aroma
• Add whole cloves to your mulling spices for wine or cider
• Add a couple of whole cloves to your tea, coffee, cocoa, or warmed milk for a warming, comforting touch
• Add ground cloves to dry rubs, sausage meat/filling, and ground meat mixtures for kebabs
• Add a pinch of ground cloves to salad dressings, steamed or boiled rice, couscous, and curries to add depth and complexity to their flavor
• Stud whole cloves into a ham or add ground cloves to your glaze for a rich, underlying warmth
• Use to flavor baked goods including gingerbread, ginger cookies, clove cake, brownies, coffee cake, spice cake, carrot cake, and zucchini bread
• Add ground cloves to jams, jellies, marmalades, compotes, and desserts like bread or rice puddings, apple pie, and sweet potato pie
• Sprinkle over baked, poached, or cut fruits (especially apples, pears, and citrus)
• Sprinkle over roasted squash, beans, and root vegetables or anywhere else you can think of – Just use sparingly as cloves can easily overwhelm a dish and in large amounts become very bitter!