Cloves (whole)

Cloves are a pungent warm spice with an intense flavor and aroma. On the tongue, sweetness, bitterness, and astringency (drying the mouth), with a noticeable amount of heat.

Cloves are used in sweet spice blends for cakes and fruit, pickles, preserved meats and curries.

Cloves are a pungent spice found in savory dishes, desserts, and drinks. Ground or whole cloves flavor meat, sauces, and rice dishes. Cloves are often used along with cinnamon and nutmeg in sweet dishes, especially "pumpkin pie" flavored items for the autumn and winter holidays, and in drinks such as mulled wine, cider, or chai.

Whole cloves are a must for studding hams, especially for the holidays.

Because cloves bring out the flavor of beef, add a whole clove to beef stew or a tiny pinch of ground cloves to gravy.

Native to the Moluccas, introduced to China in 200 B.C., cloves are the dried unopened flower buds of a tropical evergreen tree. They are picked when they begin to turn red at the base and are dried in the sun.

Good quality cloves should be intact, uniform in size and shape, dark brown with a lighter brown top to the bud and have no pieces of stem.

Ground cloves are commonly adulterated with clove stem, which does have high oil levels but more fiber and less flavor than the buds. 

Herbie's Cloves contain only cloves!

Health Benefits:

Clove oil is thought to support healthy respiratory function by loosening up congestion.

Cloves can be used topically and internally to treat pain, soothe aches and pains, and kill bacteria. Used to perfume the breath and as an antiseptic, cloves are also considered helpful in stimulating digestion.

Cloves have long been used in home remedies to treat for toothache pain because the eugenol that provides the flavor of cloves is also a pain-reliever and can help relieve inflammation. You may find clove oil (or oil of cloves) in the tooth care section of a drug store but be aware that it can be toxic for children, so keep any clove oil out of reach and use only child-safe, diluted preparations on children.