Cloves are a dried flower of a tree native to Indonesia and have a bright, spicy flavor. Nowadays cloves are widely used in a variety of national cuisines and frequently add their flavor and aroma to hot beverages like tea and mulled wine. Our pungent and aromatic dried cloves are a fundamental spice for every pantry.

Uses for Cloves

Cloves are the dried flowers of an evergreen tree and are used as spices in African, Middle Eastern, Asian and now Western cuisine. Cloves are frequently paired with lemon and sugar to make tea or can be stuck into an orange, pear or apple for steeping or aromatic purposes. Vanilla, allspice and anise also pair well with cloves.

In Indonesia, cloves are frequently mixed with tobacco to make kretek or clove cigarettes.

Historically, cloves were prized for their medicinal use in addition to culinary use. In Chinese medicine, cloves are thought to be able to fortify the kidney internally and be generally “warming” to the middle. Clove oil was used topically to ease muscles in traditional medicine. Today, researchers debate the efficacy of clove oil as a mosquito repellant.