Valentine with Cloves

The month of February outshines in the calendar for those in love. 14th February, The Valentine’s Day brings in the colors pink and red in various hues, the decadent chocolates, roses, some fully bloomed and some not yet depending upon the stage of love one might be in, among the things the lovers might take fancy to woo their partners off their feet. Young and old celebrate it with equal vigor with a proactive attitude relying heavily on consumer products.

This year I would suggest to my readers to bring in something different yet exotic for their special someone. How about the whole spices, a small muslin bag full of small green cardamoms, cinnamon sticks, coriander seeds, cumin seeds and cloves? You may want to ask why. Well, to begin with they are all powerful natural aphrodisiacs. Individually, they hold their forte among spices and give their unique character and flavor to the food. The cinnamon, cardamom and cloves can be natural mouth fresheners too. And grind them together and you have a perfectly good garam masala, the must have spice in Indian Cuisine of any region. Together their fragrance is awesome. Cook with it that fabulous dinner you were planning for that day and see the evening unfold most magically. Since my profession includes everything related to spices, how much farther did you think I would take my thoughts, if not my spice cabinet? My philosophy is, why spend on obvious gifts when you have something right in your pantry which can have a better effect for the desired result.

I have already written about benefits and the uses of cumin and cinnamon among the ones mentioned above. This month is dedicated to cloves, not because it has higher content of aphrodisiac (at least not known to me, you may think differently after 14th Feb) but simply because it is a "flower spice." Valentines and flowers kind of go together….my justification. Hence let me indulge you with Cloves.

Clove has been in use since centuries because of its powerful usefulness being an antiseptic, anesthetic, anti-oxidant and aphrodisiac besides adding the aroma to rice dish and flavor to meat dishes. It was then one of the most valuable spices; even now its value stays much higher than most spices available for good reason. The clove clusters are picked by hand before the buds open and dried on palm mats. On an average, a single tree can only produce about 7 pounds of clove in one season. Despite its low and tedious production, the spice has become an essential ingredient in our daily use products. You may know them as toothpaste, mouthwash, the body oil, perfumes, incense sticks, candles and many other such products which are related only vaguely to romance but has a direct effect on the outcome of the tryst. Why forget the good food while we are at it. All these components together play an important part in seducing the other half. If done with the right ones with true feelings, the effects are most memorable. The common ingredient, clove, seems to win hands down in this regard.

There are various ways of cooking with cloves. Both vegetarian and non vegetarian food of any culture can be cooked to perfection with cloves as the secret ingredient. Blend Ground Cloves with maple syrup and drizzle over cooked sweet potatos and winter squash. Add a few whole cloves to bean and split pea soups (remove before serving). Or simply add ground cloves to give spicy depth to gingerbread, cookies, applesauce, muffins, cakes, and other sweets. However, if you choose to cook delicious Indian dinner with cloves, you have got to come to my kitchen to learn the technique and recipe for a foolproof Chicken Vindaloo, Murg Korma and Mughali Mushrooms. A perfect dinner menu for your special someone.

Cloves

Cloves are the immature unopened flower buds of a tropical tree, Myrtaceae. When fresh, they are pink, dried, they turn to a rust-brown color. Measuring 1/2”-5/8” long, they resemble small nails, with a tapered stem. The large end of the clove is the four-pointed flower bud. It is a warming spice, pungent in taste and strongly aromatic in nature. The flavor of the clove is rich, sweet and sultry. It is a versatile spice being an antiseptic, anesthetic, anti-oxidant and aphrodisiac all packed in that single flower bud.

The native producers of clove are India and Indonesia. Now it is harvested in Madagascar, Zanzibar, Sri Lanka and Pakistan too. It is best bought whole. As a powder, flavor quickly deteriorates. Store in an airtight container out of direct light. If you choose to grind your own Cloves, do not use a grinder that has plastic parts. Clove oil can cloud some plastics. Cloves can easily overpower a dish, particularly when ground, so is used sparingly.

Besides being used as one of the ingredients of garam masala in Indian Cuisine, Clove is also a key ingredient in Indian masala chai, the spiced tea (often redundantly called "chai tea" in the USA). In Mexican cuisine cloves are best known as "clavos de olor", and often paired together with cumin and cinnamon. In Vietnamese cuisine, cloves are often used to season pho broth. In the Netherlands, the use of cloves is widespread in the cheeses, often in combination with cumin. Cloves are an essential ingredient for making Dutch speculaas and for traditional stews like hachee. In France, an ingredient crucial to any stock is a whole onion studded with cloves. In the USA, whole cloves are primarily used to stud ham or pork roast. Ground cloves are used in desserts, cakes, pies, custards, and liqueurs. Cloves are often used to enhance the flavor of game, especially venison, wild boar and hare. They are used in a number of spice mixtures including curry powders, mulling spices and pickling spices. Cloves also figure in the flavor of Worcestershire sauce. They enjoy much popularity in North Africa and the Middle East where they are generally used for meat dishes, though rice is often aromatized with a few cloves. It's a secret ingredient in barbecue and cocktail sauces.

Many claims have been made that sucking on two whole Cloves without chewing or swallowing them helps to curb the desire for alcohol. This has not yet been medically proven but I don’t see why one should not try it anyways for this purpose. It is also effective against mental and physical fatigue as well as memory loss. The use of a clove in toothache is also said to decrease pain. It also helps to decrease infection in the teeth due to its antiseptic properties. Clove oil, applied to a cavity in a decayed tooth, also relieves toothache. Cloves produce a numbing effect if you put a whole clove in your mouth. In fact, before modern anesthetics, dentists often prescribed that their patients with toothaches pack cloves around the infected area to numb the pain. It has powerful local antiseptic and mild anesthetic actions. Cloves are said to have a positive effect on stomach ulcers, vomiting, flatulence, and to stimulate the digestive system. Cloves kill intestinal parasites and exhibits broad anti-microbial properties against fungi and bacteria, thus supporting its traditional use as a treatment for diarrhea, intestinal worms, and other digestive ailments.

Among its various other uses, Cloves are an important incense material in Chinese and Japanese culture. And clove essence is commonly used in the production of many perfumes. During Christmas, it is a tradition in some European countries to make pomanders from cloves and oranges to hang around the house. This spreads a nice scent throughout the house and acts as holiday decorations. The essential oil of clove is used in aromatherapy when stimulation and warming are needed, especially for sexual problems. Whereas, its topical application over the stomach or abdomen are said to warm the digestive tract. Clove oil still is an active ingredient in several mouthwash products and a number of over-the-counter toothache pain-relief preparations. 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.

I go by a golden rule of keeping a small cluster of cloves in my handbag for those unforeseen moments instead of store bought mouth fresheners. I would rather reap their full benefit while also making my mouth and body feel the tingle.