Cloves are native to the north Molucca Islands in Indonesia, where the Dutch kept a monopoly on this spice until the eighteenth century. Cloves are much loved by the Chinese, play an important role in Sri Lankan cooking, are extensively used in the Moghul cuisine of northern India, and are popular in the Middle East and northern Africa for adding to meat dishes and rice. In Europe, cloves flavour fruit, sweetbreads, rice, and meat stews and soups. They’re included in many spice mixtures.

Other Names

Cengkeh (Indonesian); chiodo di garofano (Italian); clou de girofle (French); clavo de olor (Spanish); cravinho (Portuguese); ding xiang (Chinese); dinh huong (Vietnamese); garifalo (Greek); gram goo (Thai); gvozdika (Russian); kabsh qarunfil (Arabic); karafuu (Swahili); krinfud (Amharic); kruidnagel (Dutch); lavang (Hindi); mikhak (Farsi); nejlikor (Swedish); nelke (German); tsiporen (Hebrew)

Purchase and Avoid

 

Whole cloves are rather expensive but keep well and are only used in small quantities.

Powdered cloves should be purchased and used in very small quantities; in powdered form cloves can be overpowering.

Culinary Uses

• Add a pinch of cloves to tomato sauce.

• Add a pinch of cloves to pea soup, potato soup, bean soups, and cream of tomato soup.

• Make German pfeffernüsse cookies, Dutch speculaas cookies, or Greek kourambiedes cookies – all flavoured with cloves.

Food Affinities