Cloves - From Cigarettes to Spice Cake!

OK folks, back to "winter" spices...though the clove is also a fantastic home remedy for toothaches all year long...did you know dentists used to prescribe sucking on a whole clove to alleviate toothaches?  Oil of clove is a numbing agent.  Cloves are also extremely popular in cigarettes … but DON'T!! :)  You can get cloves ground ( a little dab'll do ya - enough clove in your spice cake and you'll FEEL the numbing!!), or you can get cloves whole.This is another spice that you could be put to death for in the mid 1600's - planting OR trading cloves was a capital offense, and cloves are also a critical ingredient in French cuisine - you can't make a stock without studding a whole onion with cloves and throwing it in!!Here's the most fun fact of all … back in the day when people didn't bathe very often and STANK, cloves were a favorite ingredient in pomander balls (the usually metal balls with holes that one stuffed with aromatics and hung from their belt (men) or dangled from their wrist (women) to hide the ODOR...  ahhh… the things you learn when armchair traveling with Lula...for more tips, tidbits and fun on a weekly basis you can sign up HERE.