Cloves
Dried, unopened flower buds — intensely warm and pungent, enough to numb the tongue.
warm · pungent · sweet-spiced
What to do with it
Classics built on it
BalineseBase genepThe complete Balinese spice paste: shallot, garlic, four rhizomes, chilli, candlenut, shrimp paste and warm spices, ground together.No one here has made it yetMinahasanBrenebonA thick soup of red kidney beans with pork, nutmeg and clove, a Minahasan descendant of Dutch brown-bean soup.No one here has made it yetAnhuiFuliji roast chickenA whole chicken glazed, fried red-gold and then simmered in a spiced master stock until the meat falls from the bone.No one here has made it yetSouth IndianAppam and stewBowl-shaped rice pancakes, lacy at the edge and soft in the middle, with a mild stew of coconut milk, whole spices and potato.No one here has made it yet Knowing it
- Where to buy
- Anywhere. Good ones are plump and oily and leave a slick when pressed with a fingernail.
- A little history
- Native to a handful of islands in the Moluccas — the Spice Islands — which European powers fought over for centuries.
- Worth knowing
- Two or three is usually enough for a whole pot.