Organic Ground Cloves

Smith & Truslow Organic Ground Cloves is USDA certified organic, freshly ground in small batches, and third-party tested for heavy metals — delivering the intensely aromatic, warm, sweet, slightly numbing and powerfully distinctive flavor that makes cloves one of the most potent, historically significant, and culinarily transformative spices in the world.

Our organic cloves are made from premium certified organic whole clove buds — the unopened flower buds of the Syzygium aromaticum tree — carefully dried and ground fresh to preserve their essential oils, deep brown color, and the extraordinarily high concentration of eugenol that gives great cloves their characteristic warm, almost medicinal intensity and the slight numbing sensation that makes them so unforgettable. Whether you're building a classic holiday pumpkin pie spice, studding a glazed ham for Christmas, building a mulled wine for winter entertaining, making a classic Indian biryani, building a Moroccan ras el hanout, creating a traditional French quatre épices, seasoning a Jamaican jerk marinade, or adding the one spice that makes a warming winter dish taste undeniably seasonal, Smith & Truslow organic ground cloves delivers a freshness, intensity, and aromatic potency that grocery store ground cloves simply cannot match.

Why Cloves Are the Most Potent Spice in Your Cabinet

Cloves are not just another warm baking spice — they are pound for pound the most aromatically intense spice in most home cooks' collections, and the one that requires the most respect and precision in use. The essential oil content of high-quality dried cloves is extraordinarily high — typically 15-20% essential oil by weight, compared to 1-4% for most other spices — and the dominant compound, eugenol, is so potent that it is used in pharmaceutical applications as a dental anesthetic and antiseptic. This extraordinary aromatic intensity means that cloves deliver enormous flavor impact in very small amounts — a quarter teaspoon of ground cloves does the flavor work of a tablespoon of milder spices like cinnamon or ginger. It also means that cloves demand respect — too much clove in a dish overwhelms everything else, while just the right amount adds a warm, complex, slightly numbing depth that makes the dish feel complete, festive, and deeply satisfying. The key to cooking with cloves is restraint — used judiciously they are one of the most transformative ingredients in any spice cabinet, but their extraordinary potency means a light hand is always the right approach.

Cloves Around the World — A Spice of Global Significance

Cloves have one of the most dramatic and consequential histories of any spice in the world — a history that shaped global trade routes, sparked wars, and drove European colonial expansion in ways that few spices can claim. Native to the Maluku Islands of Indonesia — the original Spice Islands — cloves were so valuable in medieval Europe that they were literally worth more than gold by weight, driving Portuguese, Dutch, and Spanish naval power in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Today cloves appear in the culinary traditions of virtually every culture that gained access to them through these trade routes — from the Christmas baking traditions of Northern Europe to the biryani and garam masala of India to the ras el hanout of Morocco to the jerk seasoning of Jamaica to the mulled wine traditions of Germany and France. Ground cloves are an essential element of Indian garam masala — adding the warm, slightly sweet, numbing depth that distinguishes a great garam masala from a mediocre one. They are fundamental to Moroccan ras el hanout and Middle Eastern baharat. They are the spice that gives Jamaican jerk its distinctive, warmly complex heat. They are the background warmth in Chinese five spice powder that rounds out the star anise and creates the characteristic flavor of Cantonese braised meats.

Ground Cloves vs Whole Cloves — When to Use Each

Ground cloves and whole cloves are both invaluable but serve different purposes in the kitchen. Whole cloves are ideal for applications where you want aromatic infusion without textural presence — studding a glazed ham or an onion piqûre for béchamel, adding to mulled wine and spiced cider, blooming in hot oil or ghee at the start of Indian rice dishes, or infusing into stocks and braising liquids where the whole clove can be removed before serving. Ground cloves are the right choice for baking, spice blends, dry rubs, and any preparation where cloves need to be evenly distributed throughout a dish — pumpkin pie, gingerbread, garam masala, ras el hanout, and any recipe where the measurement is in teaspoons rather than pieces. The key advantage of ground cloves over whole is consistency and precision — a measured quarter teaspoon of ground cloves delivers exactly the same flavor impact every time, while whole cloves vary in size and intensity. For baking and spice blending, ground cloves are almost always the more practical and consistent choice.

Why Our Organic Ground Cloves Are Different

Most conventional ground cloves are made from cloves of uncertain provenance grown with synthetic pesticides, processed months or years before reaching your kitchen, and stored in ways that degrade their extraordinarily high essential oil content over time. Given cloves' exceptionally high eugenol concentration, the difference between freshly processed and stale ground cloves is more dramatic than with almost any other spice — fresh cloves have an almost overwhelming aromatic intensity, while old cloves taste flat and medicinal with none of the warm, sweet complexity of the real thing. Not ours. Every lot of Smith & Truslow organic ground cloves is made from 100% certified organic clove buds with nothing added — no fillers, no anticaking agents, no irradiation — and tested by an accredited third-party lab against heavy metal specifications more stringent than industry standards. Pure cloves. Maximum potency. Nothing hidden.

How to Use Organic Ground Cloves

• Blend into pumpkin pie spice, apple pie spice, and holiday baking mixes
• Build into gingerbread, spice cookies, and holiday baked goods
• Season Indian garam masala, biryani spice blend, and curry preparations
• Build Moroccan ras el hanout, Middle Eastern baharat, and North African spice blends
• Add to Jamaican jerk seasoning and Caribbean spice blends
• Blend into Chinese five spice powder for Cantonese braised meats
• Build mulled wine, mulled cider, and holiday warming drink spice blends
• Season glazed ham, pork roast, and slow-cooked pork preparations
• Add warmth to French quatre épices for terrines and charcuterie
• Build into chai spice, masala chai, and warming beverage blends
• Season carrot cake, spice cake, and apple cake
• Add background warmth to bolognese, beef stew, and slow-cooked meat sauces
• Season sweet potato casserole, butternut squash soup, and autumn vegetable dishes
• Build into homemade ketchup, barbecue sauce, and spiced condiments
• Add to rice pudding, bread pudding, and warm dessert preparations

Certifications & Testing

• Certified organic by the Colorado Department of Agriculture (USDA NOP)
• Certified gluten-free by the Gluten Intolerance Group (GIG) — less than 10ppm
• Certified kosher by Earth Kosher
• Third-party tested for heavy metals: lead, mercury, arsenic, and cadmium
• No fillers, no anticaking agents, no irradiation
• Non-irradiated — steam sterilized only

Available in a jar and refill bag. Free shipping on orders over $85.

Also try our Organic Ground Nutmeg and Organic Cinnamon Cassia — or browse our full line of USDA certified organic spices

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Below are the test results for the organic Clove lots that we currently have in stock.

View Test Results for Organic Ground Cloves Lot 4075

Organic Cloves Ground Spec Sheet