Herb Weavers Journal #111 - 15th April 2025

Clove

Cloves are a delightful little fragrant spice made from the dried flowers of the clove tree. Native to the Spice Islands near China, cloves spread throughout Europe and Asia during the late Middle Ages as a key part of local cuisine. Today, cloves remain a popular spice that gives many dishes a subtly sweet warmth. They also have many health benefits, so although they do not grow in the UK, (don’t be expecting to be out foraging them this summer!) they are still very beneficial to us and easy to come by in all supermarkets.

This tine little dried flowers contain many vitamins and minerals, but non so high as manganese, which helps the body manage the enzymes that repair our bones and make hormones. Manganese also acts as an antioxidant that protects your body from harmful free radicals. Also containing Vitamin K, Potassium, Eugenol and Beta-carotene which can convert to Vitamin A inside the body.

Cloves contain many anti-inflammatory properties, with eugenol being the most important. It is known to reduce our body's inflammatory response, which can lower our risk of health issues like arthritis.

We have fewer free radicals when we use clove in our diet too, this also helps to reduce heart disease, diabetes and certain types of cancer.

It has also been proven to help improve liver function and reduce issues such as fatty liver. Those who eat a higher amount of cloves have shown their chances of stomach ulcers are mush lessen too.

One of the benefits I like most is how it aids toothache and dental erosion. By placing a clove next to the tooth that hurts and allowing it to just soak through, or gargling/swilling the mouth with a strong clove tea or more simply dabbing with clove oil, the pain can be lessened or completely stopped until you can seek help from a dentist.

Again do not take cloves as a supplement if you are prescribed blood thinners such as warfarin or have badly controlled diabetes as it can cause hypoglycemia. Some people are allergic to Eugenol too.