Cloves ... the Lost Treasure

Clove is known in some Arab countries as the "nail". It is a small-size tree of beautiful scenery and evergreen.

Its height is 12 meters, it grows many scarlet flowers, and its leaves have an aromatic smell.

As for the buds, they are green turns at maturity to red, then they become brown after dryness, then the buds will be easy to break and look like a nail to a large extent.

Clove becomes flowery before maturity and its color turns into brown after maturity because of the sun.

The Homeland of the original clove is Moluccan Islands in Indonesia and southern Philippines. Clove is grown today on a large scale in several countries; such as Tanzania, Madagascar, the Andes, and Brazil.

The main components of clove:

Volatile oil: contains eugenol by 79-85%, acetyl eugenol, methyl salicylate, caffeine, vanillin; gum, tannin acids.

Many people do not know about the benefits of clove for a person, so they use it as a flavor when added to tea or coffee, whereas other use it to improve the taste of food by mixing it with some spices while they do not know its great benefits.

Laboratory researches and modern scientific studies have proven that cloves have many medicinal and therapeutic benefits for human body, especially the digestive and circulatory systems... As it is available, cheap, and has no side effects.

The main benefits of cloves:

• Antiseptic, carminative, stimulant, analgesic, prevents vomiting, anti-spasm, eliminate parasites, volatile oil of cloves is a powerful anti-bacteria.

• Eugenol is the largest and the most important compounds of the volatile oil which is a powerful anesthetic and antiseptic; therefore it is useful in killing the dental pain and disinfectant in many cases.

• As for the acetyl eugenol which is also contained in the volatile oil, it has been discovered that it is strong anti-spasm; where it can be used to relieve the discomfort caused by indigestion; such as wind, colic, and bloating. Moreover, the quality of cloves, as anti-spasm, relieves coughing and releases muscle spasm when placing it topically. Clove has been used for thousands of years, especially in the south-east Asia and was considered a panacea for all diseases.

• The antiseptic property of clove makes it useful in some viral infections, and often it is given as a treatment in some tropical regions in Asia, such as: malaria, cholera and tuberculosis.

• Clove is a stimulant for mind and body; where it activates memory and the body in general, as it is also used for nourishing and restoration of sexual power in some countries such as India as well as in the West. The herb has been used to in preparation for childbirth where it strengthens the uterine contractions during childbirth.

• Clove can be used as a treatment for skin sores and eye Sand (hops), repellent for mosquitoes and mites.

• Cloves are used widely as a mouth washer and topical anesthetic effect; such as: soothing the pain of teeth.

• Cloves are added to some food, drinks, and some aromatic solutions. It is also added to toothpaste because of its good odor and narcotic effects, as it is added to many laxatives to prevent cramping and nausea.

• Cloves are described as febrifuge, antiseptic for the body, sterile for stomach and intestines; treats the mouth sores, headache, and epilepsy; strengthens the immune system, resistant to toxins, reduces inflammation allergies, alerts the heart, strengthens the body, and generates menstruation.

• Cloves contain Volatile oil by 20%, and Dawud mentioned it in his book "the ticket of David": The clove buds are warm and dry, strengthen the brain, vacate the phlegm, add flavor to food, strengthen the chest, kidneys, spleen, stomach, prevent nausea and vomiting, strengthen the sexual power if they are mixed with milk.

However, if they are boiled, they strengthen the senses and the body, dispel fatigue and modify the mood."

• The Arab doctors used clove buds to alert the digestive system and now are used extensively in dental analgesic as a topical soothing, as they are of the components of mouth washers which are used in the treatment of gum's wounds and sores, moreover they clean the teeth.

Cloves in modern folk medicine:

It is described as expectorant for phlegm, antiseptic, and sterile for the stomach, and cures, by the will of Allah, from sores and headaches.

Furthermore, it removes headache, toothache, protects against epidemics, helps digestion, repelling of toxins and epilepsy, reduces inflammation allergy, alerts the heart and the stomach, and generates menstruation by taking a small amount of its powder with sugar, as it is used with the drop and the weakness of the stomach and in cases of diarrhea, vomiting, and falling of power.

Boiling cloves is used as a disinfectant for wounds and a pain killer, as its oil is used in killing toothache by dipping a piece of cotton in cloves then dropping it over the ached teeth and the pain will be removed immediately.

Cloves sharpen the sight, strengthen the gum, add good odor to the breath, reduce the heat, clear the voice, and if pimples are anointed with its oil, they will be removed.

Since clove is an aromatic refresher, it is used with other spices to increase the appetite, as it is advisable to use its oil with olive oil to massage the muscles.

"Journal of the World," a monthly magazine, Safar 1426 AH - March / April 2005 - Edition No. (179) the seventeenth year.