Cloves

Cloves (ding xiang)

Cloves, also called Flores Caryophylli in English pharmaceutical name, is widely cultivated in Madagascar, Zanzibar, Indonesia, Sri-Lanka, Tanzania, Malaysia, Brazil, Tibet, and Guangxi provinces of China. In Chinese, it is called 丁香. It is widely used in Chinese cooking due to its acrid taste and warm characteristic.

Cloves can help to treat cardio-vascular disease, digestive system problems, auto-immune system and connective tissue diseases, external injuries, nerve system, gynecological diseases, pediatric diseases, skin disease, eye disease, ear/nose/throat disease and mouth cavity diseases.

By taking internally, it promotes afflux of the stomach mucus, increases stomach secretion, stimulates the gastric nerves, increases peristalsis, absorbing nutrients, improving oxygen in the blood, increases white cell count, stimulates CNS, increases heart rate, inhibits bacteria. Its essential oil can inhibit the growth of Candida Albican, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, and Penicillium expansum.

The MIC was used to evaluate the antifungal activity against Candida albicans ATCC 10231, Aspergillus niger ATCC 9642 and Aspergillus flavus ATCC 9643. Antifungal activity was evaluated for the essential oil and simultaneously for Amphotricin B. Results showed that Eugenia caryophyllata essential oil exhibited a significant activity against fungi, and its MIC on Candida albicans, Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus flavus were respectively 0.50, 0.125 and 0.25 µg ml-1 (ppm).

In the ancient time, cloves were used for perfumes, medicines and breath fresheners, more than cooking. But nowadays, it is used commonly in kitchen. Cloves are used with other spices to create variety kind of taste mixture to cooking. It can be used to make sauce for meat/poutry, it also can be used to make sweet desserts. For example, it can be added for extra taste for fried rice, soup, stew, and stock; it also can be added for pies, bread sauce, apple sauce and etc.

Cloves can be bought whole or in the ground form. Whole cloves are much more aromatic and flavorsome and if possible try to buy whole cloves as opposed to the ground powder.

Although some cooking recipes will call for ground clove powder, it is possible for you to grind the whole cloves at home. Using a pestle and mortar to grind the cloves is not the best choice, and if possible try to use an electric grinder of some sort, such as a coffee grinder. If you do not have one to hand, you could place the cloves in a plastic bag and crush them with a hammer.

Another advantage of whole cloves is that they will keep for around 6 months longer than the ground form, lasting for about a year if stored in an airtight container.

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