Cloves

Cloves or laung as we call them are dark brown in colour and shaped like a nail. In fact cloves got their name from the Latin word clavus which means nail. The spice is warm, pungent, aromatic and spicy in taste and goes extremely well with rice dishes as well as meat-based curries. Cloves are also part of the garam masala spice mixture. They pair well with cardamom, cinnamon and peppercorns. Cloves are known to have anti-inflammatory properties and commonly used as a mouth freshener. Chewing on a single clove has been proven to relieve toothache and according to Ayurveda cloves improve circulation, digestion and metabolism.