the dried, unopened flower bud of an evergreen tree, Syzygium aromaticum, which belongs to the myrtle family and is native to the Moluccas (in E. Indonesia). Cloves are an important culinary spice, mainly cultivated in Zanzibar (Tanzania), the Malagasy Republic, and Indonesia. Indonesians use over 30,000 tonnes a year in the manufacture of their ‘kretek’ cigarettes, the largest single use of cloves.
The English name is from the French clou de girofle: literally, ‘nail of clove’, referring to the shape of the dried bud, the tree being a giroflier. The similarity to a nail is also noted in the Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Persian names. In Arabic individual cloves are called masamir qaranful, ‘nails of clove’, just as in French. The English mangled girofle into ‘gilofer’ and thence into ‘gilliflower’, an early name for the spice, then applied as ‘clove gilliflower’ to the clove-scented pinks growing in everyone's garden.
Cloves were in use in China as early as the 3rd century bc, and have also been used in India since ancient times. They spread from Egypt throughout the Mediterranean region and then further north in Europe between the 2nd and 8th centuries ad.
Marco Polo, in the 13th century, mentioned seeing clove plantations in the E. Indies. The Portuguese, after taking possession of the Moluccas in 1514, controlled the clove trade for a century. The Dutch wrested the islands and the monopoly from them early in the 17th century, and used draconian measures to restrict the growing of cloves to the single island of Amboina; the penalty for cultivating or selling them elsewhere was death. French efforts to break the monopoly by securing plants and growing them in Mauritius, thanks to the derring-do of the aptly named Pierre Poivre (who also stole nutmeg), began to succeed towards the end of the 18th century; and subsequently led to the important plantations of Madagascar and Zanzibar.
Varieties of clove are defined by their place of origin. In the trade, Penang cloves are considered best, those of Zanzibar second, and Madagascar cloves third.
Some authorities do not accept the separation of the genus Syzygium from Eugenia. Be that as it may, the clove is closely related to the rose-apple, jambolan, and pitanga. The tree is small and evergreen, and may live for a century or more. It flowers twice in the year, and it is the fully grown but still closed buds which are harvested to be dried and marketed. The four petals, with the stamens inside, form the quadrangular nail-like head of the clove.
Eugenol, which is also present in cinnamon, is the substance which gives cloves their distinctive aroma.
There are two picking seasons in the year. The clusters of cloves have to be picked by hand, at just the right moment, when most of them will have developed a pink flush. Clove-picking, except for the young, small trees, or the lowest branches of big ones, is difficult. After picking, the stems are removed and the cloves carefully dried, when they assume their familiar brown colour. They keep well if stored in dry conditions, but some of the volatile oil will evaporate if storage is prolonged.
In India and some other Asian countries cloves are much used in connection with betel nut chewing, but also have a role as a conventional spice in cookery. In western countries, they are a common pickling spice, e.g. in soused herring; they are also often stuck into onions and hams, and for various festive foods such as Christmas pudding, or drinks such as mulled wine. However, their main destination in the English kitchen, according to Elizabeth David (1970), is apple pie, whose taste, in her opinion, they spoil. She thought that the best use of whole cloves was in the ‘extraordinary candied walnuts of Turin’, black and soft after being cooked and half-crystallized, each with a clove stuck into the stalk end.
The addition of a single clove, or a fragment of one, is recommended in a wide variety of dishes, both sweet and savoury. Stobart (1980) comments that the addition of a clove to beef stock or to a stew gives it a richness whose source will be unidentified, and opines: ‘As a flavouring, cloves are best when kept below the level of recognition.’
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
Dalby, Andrew (2000b), Dangerous Tastes, London: British Museum Press.
David, Elizabeth (1970), Spices, Salt and Aromatics in the English Kitchen, London: Penguin.
Stobart, Tom (1980), The Cook's Encyclopaedia, London: B. T. Batsford. Also repr 1999, London: Grub Street.
Tidbury, G. E. (1949), The Clove Tree, London: Crosby Lockwood.
Turner, Jack (2004), Spice, London: HarperCollins.
