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The spices of life

By Nick Hadley

Adapted from Health Smart

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Cloves

Resembling an untidy jumble of small nails, whole cloves are the dried, unopened pink flower buds of the evergreen clove tree. They yield a complex flavour – pungent, warm and sweet, but also faintly peppery.

Eugenol is a chemical component of clove that has been used for its local-anaesthetic, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effects (although studies are limited). In the U.S., eugenol extracts are often used in dentistry for these purposes. Cloves offer an excellent source of manganese, vitamin C and omega-3 fatty acids, all of which are beneficial for your cardiovascular system.

Look for clean, intact buds with soft little balls at the top, with the clove stems still attached. The stems contain about 30% of the clove’s volatile oil. When ground, cloves lose this volatile oil (and flavour) quite quickly.

Good-quality cloves will float vertically in water.

You could try… spicing up a fruit compote by adding ground cloves. Or add whole cloves to mulled wine with cinnamon sticks and coriander seeds. But be careful: cloves can easily overpower a dish, particularly when ground, so be sparing.

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