Clove

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Clove

Cloves (Syzygium aromaticum, syn. Eugenia aromaticum or Eugenia caryophyllata) are the aromatic dried flower

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproduction structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds....
buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae

Myrtaceae

The Myrtaceae or Myrtle family are a family of dicotyledon plants, placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtus, clove, guava, feijoa, allspice, and eucalyptus belong here....
. Cloves are native to Indonesia

Indonesia

The Republic of Indonesia , is a transcontinental country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Comprising Islands of Indonesia, it is the world's largest Archipelago state....
and used as a spice

Spice

A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark, leaf, or vegetable used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food additive for the purpose of flavor, color, or as a preservative that kills harmful bacteria or prevents their growth....
in cuisine all over the world. The English name derives from Latin clavus 'nail' (also origin of French clou 'nail') as the buds vaguely resemble small irregular nails in shape.

Nutrition Facts

?????? Nutrition Facts
Calories in ??????
Carbs in ??????
Fat in ??????

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Encyclopedia

Cloves (Syzygium aromaticum, syn. Eugenia aromaticum or Eugenia caryophyllata) are the aromatic dried flower

Flower

Myrtaceae

Indonesia

The Republic of Indonesia , is a transcontinental country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Comprising Islands of Indonesia, it is the world's largest Archipelago state....
and used as a spice

Spice

Indonesia

The Republic of Indonesia , is a transcontinental country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Comprising Islands of Indonesia, it is the world's largest Archipelago state....
, Madagascar

Madagascar

Madagascar, or Republic of Madagascar , is an island nation in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa. The main island, also called Madagascar, is the List of islands by area, and is home to 5% of the world's plant and animal species, of which more than 80% are Endemism to Madagascar....
, Zanzibar

Zanzibar

Zanzibar is part of the East African republic of Tanzania. It consists of the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, 25?50 km off the coast of the mainland....
, Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia and borders Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046 kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and People's Republic of China in th...
, and Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is an island country in South Asia, located about off the southern coast of India....
; it is also grown in India

India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
under the name Lavang .

The clove tree is an evergreen

Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant having leaf all year round. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage for part of the year....
which grows to a height ranging from 10-20 m, having large oval leaves

Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
and crimson flowers in numerous groups of terminal clusters. The flower buds are at first of a pale color and gradually become green, after which they develop into a bright red, when they are ready for collecting. Cloves are harvested when 1.5-2 cm long, and consist of a long calyx, terminating in four spreading sepal

Sepal

A sepal is a part of the flower of angiosperms . Sepals in a "typical" flower are green and lie under the more conspicuous petals. As a collective unit the sepals are called the Wiktionary:calyx, and the collection of petals is called the Wiktionary:corolla....
s, and four unopened petals which form a small ball in the centre.

Uses

According to FAO, Indonesia produced almost 80% of the world's clove output in 2005 followed at a distance by Madagascar and Tanzania.

Cloves can be used in cooking either whole or in a ground form, but as they are extremely strong, they are used sparingly. The spice is used throughout Europe

Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
and Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
and is smoked in a type of cigarette

Cigarette

A cigarette is a product consumed through smoking and manufactured out of curing and finely cut tobacco leaves and reconstituted tobacco, often combined with other List of additives in cigarettes, then rolled or stuffed into a paper-wrapped cylinder ....
s locally known as kretek
Kretek

Kretek are cigarettes made with a complex blend of tobacco, cloves and a flavoring 'sauce'. The word "kretek" itself is an onomatopoeia term for the crackling sound of burning cloves....
in Indonesia. The largest brand of kreteks in the United States is Djarum, who sells the iconic Djarum Black. Cloves are also an important incense

Incense

Incense is composed of aromatic Biotic material materials. It releases fragrant smoke when burned. The term incense refers to the substance itself, rather than to the odor that it produces....
material in Chinese

Culture of China

The Culture of China is one of the world's oldest and most complex cultures. The area in which the culture is dominant covers a large geographical region with customs and traditions varying greatly between towns, cities and Province ....
and Japanese

Culture of Japan

The culture of Japan has evolved greatly over millennia, from the country's prehistoric Jomon culture to its contemporary hybrid culture, which combines influences from Asia, Europe and North America....
culture.

Cloves have historically been used in Indian cuisine

Indian cuisine

The cuisine of India is characterized by its sophisticated and subtle use of many spices and vegetables grown across India and also for the widespread practice of vegetarianism across its society....
(both North Indian and South Indian) as well as Mexican cuisine (best known as "clavos de olor"), where it is often paired together with cumin

Cumin

Cumin is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae, native from the east Mediterranean to East India....
and cinnamon

Cinnamon

Cinnamon is a small evergreen tree 10?15 metres tall, belonging to the family Lauraceae, and is native to Sri Lanka.The leaf are ovate-oblong in shape, 7?18 cm long....
. In north Indian cuisine, it is used in almost all dishes, along with other spices. It is also a key ingredient in tea along with green cardamom. In south Indian cuisine, it is used extensively in biryani

Biryani

Biryani, biriani, or beriani is a set of primarily South Asian rice-based foods made with spices, rice and meat/vegetables....
along with "cloves dish" (similar to pilaf

Pilaf

Pilaf, also called polao, pilau, or pulao, is a dish in which a grain, such as rice or cracked wheat, is browned in oil, and then cooked in a seasoned broth....
, but with the addition of other spices), and it is normally added whole to enhance the presentation and flavor of the rice. In Vietnamese cuisine, cloves are often used to season pho broth.

Its essence is commonly used in the production of many perfumes.

During Christmas

Christmas

Christmas , also referred to as Christmas Day, is an annual holiday celebrated on December 25 that commemorates the birth of Jesus. The day marks the beginning of the larger season of Christmastide, which lasts Twelve Days of Christmas....
, it is a tradition in some European countries to make a pomander

Pomander

A pomander, from French language pomme d'ambre, i.e. apple of amber, is a ball made of perfumes, such as ambergris , musk, or civet. The pomander was worn or carried in a vase, also known by the same name, as a protection against infection in times of pestilence or merely as a useful article to mollify bad smells....
from cloves and oranges to hang around the house. This spreads a nice scent throughout the house and the oranges themselves act as Christmas decorations.

Medicinal and Nostrums

Cloves are used in Ayurveda

Ayurveda

Ayurveda is a system of traditional medicine native to India, and practiced in other parts of the world as a form of alternative medicine. In Sanskrit, the word Ayurveda comprises the words , meaning 'life' and , meaning 'science'....
called Lavang in India

India

Herbalism

Herbalism is a traditional medicinal or folk medicine practice based on the use of plants and plant extracts. Herbalism is also known as botanical medicine, medical herbalism, herbal medicine, herbology, and phytotherapy....
and dentistry

Dentistry

Dentistry is the known evaluation, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases, disorders and conditions of the mouth, maxillofacial area and the adjacent and associated structures and their impact on the human body....
where the essential oil is used as an anodyne

Anodyne

An anodyne is a medicine that relieves or soothes pain by lessening the sensitivity of the brain or nervous system. Also called an analgesic ....
(painkiller) for dental emergencies. Cloves are used as a carminative

Carminative

A carminative, also known as carminativum , is an herb or preparation that either prevents formation of gas in the gastrointestinal tract, or facilitates the expulsion of said gas, thereby combating flatulence....
, to increase hydrochloric acid in the stomach and to improve peristalsis

Peristalsis

Peristalsis is the rhythmic contraction of smooth muscles to propel contents through the digestive tract. The word is derived from New Latin and comes from the Greek language peristaltikos, peristaltic, from peristellein, "to wrap around," and stellein, "to place."...
. Cloves are also said to be a natural antihelmintic. The essential oil is used in aromatherapy when stimulation and warming are needed, especially for digestive problems. Topical application over the stomach or abdomen are said to warm the digestive tract.

In Chinese medicine cloves or ding xiang are considered acrid, warm and aromatic, entering the kidney

Kidney (Zang)

As distinct from the Western medical concept of Kidneys, this concept from Traditional Chinese Medicine is more a way of describing a set of interrelated parts than an anatomical organ....
, spleen

Spleen (Zang)

In the Traditional Chinese Medicine , a spleen or Pi is distinct from the concept of western or modern medicine. It is more a way to describing a set of interrelated parts than an organ , each organ cannot be explained fully unless its relationship and homeostasis with the other organs is understood....
and stomach

Stomach (Fu)

Stomach, a concept from traditional Chinese medicine as distinct from the Western medical concept of stomach, is more a way of describing a set of interrelated parts than an anatomical organ....
meridians

Meridian (Chinese medicine)

Meridian , also known as channel, in traditional Chinese medicine, is the common name of vessel, and collaterals. It is the path of running qi and blood, connection zang-fu viscera, communication inside and outside, and run through top and bottom....
, and are notable in their ability to warm the middle, direct stomach qi

In traditional Chinese culture, qi is an active principle forming part of any living thing.It is frequently translated as "energy flow," and is often compared to Western notions of energeia or ?lan vital as well as the Yoga Pranayama of prana....
downward, to treat hiccough and to fortify the kidney yang

Yang

Yang may refer to:* In yin and yang, yang is also the word for one half of the two opposing forces in Chinese philosophy, described as "bright positive masculine principle" in Chinese dualistic cosmology....
. Because the herb is so warming it is contraindicated in any persons with fire symptoms and according to classical sources should not be used for anything except cold from yang deficiency. As such it is used in formulas for impotence or clear vaginal discharge from yang deficiency, for morning sickness together with ginseng

Ginseng

Ginseng refers to species within Panax, a genus of 11 species of slow-growing perennial plants with fleshy roots, in the family Araliaceae....
and patchouli

Patchouli

Patchouli is a species from the genus Pogostemon and a bushy herb of the lamiaceae family, with erect Plant stems, reaching two or three feet in height and bearing small pale pink-white flowers....
, or for vomiting and diarrhea due to spleen and stomach coldness. This would translate to hypochlorhydria. Clove oil is used in various skin disorders like acne, pimples etc. It is also used in severe burns, skin irritations and to reduce the sensitiveness of skin.

Ayurvedic herbalist K.P. Khalsa, RH (AHG), uses cloves internally as a tea and topically as an oil for hypotonic muscles, including for multiple sclerosis. This is also found in Tibetan medicine. Ayurvedic herbalist Alan Tilotson, RH (AHG) suggests avoiding more than occasional use of cloves internally in the presence of pitta

Pitta

Pitta may stand for:*Pitta , a genus of tropical birds*Pitta , an island in the Dodecanese archipelago, in the Aegean Sea*Pitta is one of the three dosha It corresponds to fire...
inflammation such as is found in acute flares of autoimmune diseases.

In West Africa, the Yorubas use cloves infused in water as a treatment for stomach upsets, vomiting and diarrhoea.The infusion is called Ogun Jedi-jedi.

Western studies have supported the use of cloves and clove oil for dental pain, and to a lesser extent for fever reduction, as a mosquito repellent and to prevent premature ejaculation. Clove may reduce blood sugar levels.

Toxicity

Large amounts should be avoided in pregnancy. Cloves can be irritating to the gastrointestinal tract, and should be avoided by people with gastric ulcers, colitis

Colitis

Colitis is a Chronic digestive diseases characterized by inflammation of the colon .Colitis is one of a group of conditions which are inflammatory and auto-immune, affecting the tissue that lines the gastrointestinal system ....
, or irritable bowel syndrome

Irritable bowel syndrome

Irritable bowel syndrome , also called spastic colon, is a functional bowel disorder characterized by chronic abdominal pain, discomfort, bloating, and alteration of bowel habits in the absence of any organic cause....
. In overdoses, cloves can cause vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, and upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Severe cases can lead to changes in liver function, dyspnea

Dyspnea

Dyspnea or dyspnoea , from Latin language dyspnoea, from Greek language dyspnoia from dyspnoos, shortness of breath) or shortness of breath is perceived to be difficulty of breathing or painful breathing that a patient is aware of....
, loss of consciousness, hallucination, and even death. The internal use of the essential oil should be restricted to 3 drops per day for an adult as excessive use can cause severe kidney damage.

History

Until modern times, cloves grew only on a few islands in the Maluku Islands

Maluku Islands

The Maluku Islands are an archipelago in Indonesia, and part of the larger Malay Archipelago. They are located on the Australian Plate, lying east of Sulawesi , west of New Guinea, and north of Timor....
(historically called the Spice Islands), including Bacan

Bacan

Bacan refers to a group of islands in the Maluku Islands of Indonesia and to that group's largest island. The islands are mountainous and forested....
, Makian

Makian

Makian is one of the Maluku Islands in Indonesia. It lies to the south of Tidore and to the north of Bacan. Since its first recorded eruption in the 1550s it has erupted seven more times, four of which caused fatalities....
, Moti

Moti

Moti may refer to:* Moti Island* Julian Moti* Cosmin Moti - Romanian football player...
, Ternate

Ternate

Ternate is an island and town in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia, located off the west coast of the larger island of Halmahera, the center of the powerful former Sultanate of Ternate....
, and Tidore

Tidore

Tidore is in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia, west of the larger island of Halmahera. It is a city, island, and archipelago. In the In the pre-colonial era, the kingdom of Tidore was a major regional political and economic power, and a fierce rival of nearby Ternate, just to the north....
. Nevertheless, they found their way west to the Middle East

Middle East

File:GreaterMiddleEast1.pngThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, western Asia, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East....
and Europe

Europe

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is an Arab-majority country in Southwest Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north....
along with evidence dating the find to within a few years of 1721 BC.

Cloves, along with nutmeg

Nutmeg

The nutmegs Myristica are a genus of evergreen trees indigenous to tropical southeast Asia and Australasia. They are important for two spices derived from the fruit, nutmeg and mace....
and pepper

Black pepper

Black pepper is a flowering plant vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning....
, were highly prized in Roman

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
times, and Pliny the Elder

Pliny the Elder

Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was an ancient author, naturalist or natural philosopher and naval and military commander of some importance who wrote Natural History ....
once famously complained that "there is no year in which India does not drain the Roman Empire of fifty million sesterces." Cloves were traded by Arabs during the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
in the profitable Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean ....
trade. In the late fifteenth century, Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Located in southwestern Europe, Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east....
took over the Indian Ocean trade, including cloves, due to the Treaty of Tordesillas

Treaty of Tordesillas

The Treaty of Tordesillas , signed at Tordesillas , June 7, 1494, divided the "newly discovered" lands outside Europe between Spanish Empire and Portuguese Empire along a north-south meridian 370 league west of the Cape Verde islands ....
with Spain

Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
and a separate treaty with the sultan of Ternate

Ternate

Europe

Maluku Islands

The Maluku Islands are an archipelago in Indonesia, and part of the larger Malay Archipelago. They are located on the Australian Plate, lying east of Sulawesi , west of New Guinea, and north of Timor....
. Clove was then one of the most valuable spices, a kg

Kilogram

The kilogram or kilogrammeThe spelling kilogram is used by the International Committee for Weights and Measures and the U.S....
costing around 7 g of gold

Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and atomic number 79. It is a highly sought-after precious metal, having been used as money, as a store of value, in jewelry, in sculpture, and for ornamentation since the beginning of recorded history....
.

The high value of cloves and other spices drove Spain to seek new routes to the Maluku Islands, which would not be seen as trespassing on the Portuguese domain in the Indian Ocean. Fernando e Isabela sponsored the unsuccessful voyages of Cristobal Colon (Columbus), and their grandson Carlos I sponsored the voyage of Hernando de Magallanes (Magellan). The fleet led by Magallanes reached the Maluku Islands after his death, and the Spanish were successful in briefly capturing this trade from the Portuguese. The trade later became dominated by the Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a country that is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands is located in North-West Europe, and bordered by the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east....
in the seventeenth century. With great difficulty the French

France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
succeeded in introducing the clove tree into Mauritius

Mauritius

Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius, , is an island nation off the coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about 900 kilometres east of Madagascar....
in the year 1770. Subsequently, their cultivation was introduced into Guiana

Guiana

The Guiana Shield is one of the three cratons of the South American Plate. It is a 1.7 billion year old Precambrian geological formation in northeast South America that forms a portion of the northern coast....
, Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the List of countries by population country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world....
, most of the West Indies, and Zanzibar

Zanzibar

Zanzibar is part of the East African republic of Tanzania. It consists of the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, 25?50 km off the coast of the mainland....
.

In Britain in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, cloves were worth at least their weight in gold, due to the high price of importing them.

Active compounds

The compound responsible for the cloves' aroma is eugenol

Eugenol

Eugenol , is an allyl chain-substituted guaiacol. Eugenol is a member of the phenylpropanoids class of chemical compounds. It is a clear to pale yellow oily liquid extracted from certain essential oils especially from clove oil, nutmeg, cinnamon, and bay leaf....
. It is the main component in the essential oil

Essential oil

An essential oil is a concentrated, hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aroma compounds from plants. They are also known as volatile or ethereal oils, or simply as the "oil of" the plant material from which they were extracted, such as oil of clove....
extracted from cloves, comprising 72-90%. Eugenol has pronounced antiseptic and anaesthetic properties. Other important constituents include essential oils acetyl eugenol, beta-caryophyllene

Caryophyllene

Caryophyllene , or -?-caryophyllene, is a natural bicyclic terpene that is a constituent of many essential oils, especially clove oil, the oil from the stems and flowers of Syzygium aromaticum , the essential oil of hemp Cannabis sativa, and rosemary Rosemary....
and vanillin

Vanillin

Vanillin, methyl vanillin, or 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde, is an organic compound with the molecular formula C8H8O3....
; crategolic acid; tannin

Tannin

Tannins are astringent, bitter plant polyphenols that either bind and Precipitation or shrink proteins. The astringency from the tannins is what causes the dry and puckery feeling in the mouth following the consumption of red wine or an unripened fruit....
s, gallotannic acid, methyl salicylate

Methyl salicylate

Methyl salicylate is a natural product of many species of plants. Some of the plants producing it are called wintergreens, hence the common name....
(painkiller); the flavonoid

Flavonoid

The term flavonoid refers to a class of plant secondary metabolites. According to the IUPAC nomenclature, they can be classified into:*flavonoids, derived from 2-phenylchromone structure...
s eugenin, kaempferol

Kaempferol

Kaempferol is a natural flavonoid that has been isolated from tea, broccoli, Delphinium, Witch-hazel, grapefruit, and other plant sources. Kaempferol is a yellow crystalline solid with a melting point of 276-278 ?C....
, rhamnetin, and eugenitin; triterpenoid

Terpenoid

The terpenoids , sometimes called isoprenoids, are a large and diverse class of naturally-occurring organic compound similar to terpenes, derived from five-carbon isoprene units assembled and modified in thousands of ways....
s like oleanolic acid

Oleanolic acid

Oleanolic acid is a naturally occurring triterpenoid, widely distributed in food and medicinal plants, related to betulinic acid. It can be found in Phytolacca americana , and Syzygium spp, garlic, etc....
, stigmasterol

Stigmasterol

Stigmasterol is a phytosterol with a molecular weight of 412.691 and a formula of C29H48O. It is also known as Wulzen anti-stiffness factor....
and campesterol; and several sesquiterpenes.