That’s a weird pronunciation….clove?! Regardless on how ridiculous it sounds pronounced, this Wheat Wednesday will debut a Clove Wheat beer at 4PM. Not sure you are familiar with the clove spice? Learn more from these interesting trivial facts:
- Cloves are used as an aromatic spice but are technically the flower bud from a very tall evergreen tree.
- Until modern times, cloves only grew on the Maluku Islands, otherwise known as the “spice islands".
- The characteristic aroma comes from Eugenol, approximately 15% of the bud is comprised of this chemical
- Western medicine has used clove for dental pain, so many people associate the smell of clove with the dentist
- Chinese medicine has many many uses for cloves including: aroma therapy, impotence, and morning sickness
- The clove tree can grow upwards of 24-36 feet tall
- The word “clove” comes from the French word “clou” which means “nail”. The shape of the whole clove bud is remarkably close in shape to a nail.
- Used in cooking as both “whole” and “ground”
And how about additional uses for clove (besides beer):
- Christmas time potpourri usually mixed with oranges
- clove cigarettes (technically can’t be called cigarettes in US after 2009)
- used in many Indian, Vietnamese, Mexican dishes
- breath mint
- studding pork
- still used in medicines
- mulled wines
- sweet pumpkin pie
- used with pickling fruits and vegetables
- key ingredient in Worcestershire sauce
The list is definitely endless. I always remember seeing the bud in mixes of potpourri and so usually associate the spice with that. Since Siebel (studying Bavarian Hefeweizens), I have learned to recognize the Eugenol compound much easier as well in this style of beer. Do you have any favor recipes that use Clove?