JaanYar
Chapter 1 of 16

Clove

The Essentials

A small pile of whole dried cloves on a pale wooden board, each one a dark nail-shaped stem topped with a round bud
Whole cloves (mikhak) look like tiny dark nails — the round head is the unopened flower bud.

You'll notice clove's intensity straight away. Its main compound, eugenol, numbs pain on the surface of the gum. This is the best-supported use.

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It's one of the strongest antioxidant spices, gram for gram, though nobody eats it by the gram.

Clove oil is very strong. Never swallow it, and never give it to a small child.

Clove is a dried flower bud with a very big flavour. A single bud can change a whole pot of rice. In Persian kitchens it goes into advieh spice blends, into rice, into stews, and into winter tea. In Persian homes it has another job too: a clove held against a sore tooth quiets the pain. That old habit turned out to have a real reason behind it. Clove oil contains eugenol, which numbs the surface of the gum. Dentists have used it for more than a hundred years.

Known to botanists as Syzygium aromaticum.