Cloves are the dried flower buds of the Syzygium aromaticum tree. Clove trees are indigenous to the Maluku Islands of Indonesia — also known as the Spice Islands. Today, cloves grow in India, the West Indies, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Brazil, and Madagascar. For over 2,000 years, Indian and Chinese traditional medicine has made extensive use of cloves and clove oil. Arabic traders first brought the fragrant buds to Europe in the fourth century. It wasn't until the seventh and eighth centuries that cloves became popular as a food preservative in […]
