Clove Isn’t Just For Christmas

It’s easy to think of clove as one of those spices that only comes out at Christmas. But it doesn’t have to be that way. There are loads of great and useful things you can do with it. Just don’t go crazy with it, unless you want to numb your mouth.

Did you know that clove is the dried, unopened flower bud of the clove tree? *Light bulb moment*. It’s fairly cheap now, but back in the day it was a prized spice that nations fought bitterly over. Why? Because it’s so damn versatile.

For years it’s been used in perfumes and medicines. It’s good for headaches, digestion, flatulence, and – because it’s antifungal – Athlete’s Foot. It’s also said to help treat tooth decay and does wonders for bad breath.

Those numbing properties also make it a great aid for a sore throat. Add a couple of cloves to your next hot toddy and see for yourself.

Clove is a pretty powerful spice so go easy. It mixes really well with other spices to give food a lovely warming, aromatic flavour, like in this stunner of a mixed meat stew.

It can transform plain rice too – try this veggie curry with clove-perfumed rice  to see what we’re talking about.

As well as adding great flavour, cloves are a nifty way of securing bay leaf to onion in this super useful béchamel sauce recipe – read it and all will be revealed!

Like many of its spice friends (we’re talking about you, cinnamon and ginger, clove’s as good in sweet stuff as it is in savoury. This blood orange and almond tray bake oozing with clove syrup is one to try.

In fact, clove syrup is perfect for dribbling over all sorts of desserts and adding to hot drinks. It’ll keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge.

For next level doughnuts, ready up the fryer and get busy with these extra special apple doughnuts.

Clove is a must-have spice for the festive season; it gets quite an outing during all the celebrations. It’s perfect for making food look extra fancy on the Christmas Day table, like this apricot and ginger glazed ham, studded with cloves.

It’s great for sides too: try this pimped red cabbage with port and pears. And is it even Christmas lunch without a cracking bread sauce?

This festive spice gives a sweet and spicy kick to a pan of warming mulled wine. If wine’s not your tipple of choice, then how about mulled spiced cider?

Serve up with some clove sugar cookies for the full spice experience.

But clove’s not just for Christmas. As we hope we’ve done a good job persuading you, it’s a spice for life.