Clove: Not just for a toothache

This beautiful dried unopened flower spice, known as laung in Hindi, is a valuable ingredient in curry power and sweets like the famed Laung Lata. When sliced apples or pears are stewed along with a couple of cloves, the flavour is greatly enhanced in a unique fashion.

Like all spices, the clove also has significant medicinal value that dates back to ancient times. The ayurvedic tradition touts it as an effective remedy for cough and asthma. The traditional recipe calls for boiling 6 cloves in 30 ml of water to form a decoction. One teaspoonful of this decoction is to be taken with honey, three times a day.

In another recipe to treat vomiting, the powder of fried cloves is mixed with enough honey to form a consistent and jelly like paste, which is licked with as much frequency as to not cause discomfort.