View our scrumptious collection of clove recipes, including Josh Eggleton's gluten-free bread sauce, Alfred Prasad's murgh makhni and Laurie Gear's snail bon bons.

The name "clove" comes from the Latin word meaning "nail", and their shape derives from their origin as the dried flower buds of the Indonesian evergreen clove tree. They have a warm, aromatic scent and a sweet, pungent flavour that pairs well with other aromatics like cinnamon and star anise. Both whole and ground cloves can be found in numerous world recipes, sweet and savoury, from Moroccan lamb tagine to Indian lamb shanks.

Whole cloves are used to infuse dishes like Alfred Prasad's rice pulao recipe and Adam Gray's mulled wine recipe. Whole cloves also work especially well with meats, as we find in Josh Eggleton's clove-studded glazed ham recipe.

Ground cloves are handy for recipes like cakes and biscuits where you want the flavour of cloves without it being overpowering.