11-30-2025 4:19am

Philosophizing About Food With Francine: Aromatic Cloves

Lesley Misko Editor

by Francine Black

It’s another great day for baking. The crisp cool days of fall, full of the fragrance of falling leaves and dying vegetation, entice me to the oven!

This very banal looking cake is especially nice on such a day. Beneath its surface is a lovely aromatic blend of fresh Granny Smith applesauce, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and cloves.

Making bread to enjoy and to share is a weekly habit. My interest in the incredibly potent aroma of cloves takes us, once again, to the Maluka Islands, an archipelago of countless small islands off the southern coast of Indonesia. It’s no wonder that they are called Spice Islands for the incredible variety of spices growing there.

Cloves are the dried flower buds of the evergreen clove tree that is related to the guava and eucalyptus trees. You may purchase cloves ground or in bud form. (I recall in days past, that chefs would stud hams with the buds before baking.)

The history of cloves dates back to the ancient civilizations of China and India where they were used in Ayurvedic medicine.

Today, they remain an important spice globally in both cuisine and herbal medicine. I remember my grandmother concocting a potion of oil of cloves to soothe the baby’s teething pain and our sore jaws when we had the mumps. I don’t remember if it helped but we enjoyed her attention and soothing touch.

Some folks enjoy a clove tea for the vitamin C, K, fiber, and manganese to treat inflammation and manage diabetes. In any case I love the rich pungent aroma in spicy cakes, German lebkuchen cookies, and especially pumpkin pie!

The holidays are coming, so let’s get ready!

High in the mountains above Bally, where the dense groves of treetops seem to touch the sky, is Francine Black, Boyertown’s own version of chef Julia Child. Her daily activities reflect the things she most values: family and friends, music, and lovingly prepared food.