Clove tree useful properties
NAILS( Eugenia caryophyllata - Myrtaceae) - evergreen clove - native to the Moluccas islands, islands of spices. Its leaves are leathery, the flowers are small with a purple cup and white or pink petals. From the dried buds it turns out spice called "clove".
However, at present it is imported to most tropical countries. The dominant role in world trade of carnations is played by Madagascar, Zanzibar and Tanzania. Carnation grows better near the sea, so it is mainly cultivated on the islands. Trees are mostly small, they can grow up to 9 m, but from 5-6-meter it is more convenient to harvest. Their shape is conical, somewhat reminiscent of the laurel, but the leaves are longer, greener, and the spots containing aromatic substance are visible on them. The bark is smooth, grayish in color. Almost from the very bottom of the trunk, huge branches grow, at the ends of which flowering crimson flowers( more precisely, would bloom if they were allowed).Carnations are long unblown yellow-green buds appearing during the rainy season. Before blossoming, they turn pink, then they are torn off manually from branches or knocked down from a tree. Then the buds are dried in the sun or on low heat for several days, until they get the usual dark brown color.
Kidneys appear on a tree of five years of age, and the annual harvest is about to grow steadily. Usually 3-4 kg of fresh kidneys are collected from a mature tree. After assembly, their weight is reduced to about 1 kg. The content of essential oil is about 1 5-20% of the weight of dried kidneys. As a result of incredible works from one tree receive 150 ml of oil.
At the height of the rainy season on all the island where the clove tree grows, a spicy aroma spills in hot moist air, that there is no epidemic on Pinang, is attributed to the healing properties of the clove tree aroma( clove is a very strong antipark agent.early XVII in the clove trees, the islanders began to ache and the death rate increased dramatically
The Greeks called this tree a caryophyllum, a leaf of a nut tree. The dried buds of the plant somewhat resemble nails, Yoda and the name "carnation."
The carnation was well known to the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. Pliny, to the great Roman physician Alexander Trallian praised the clove. Saint Hildegard in his treatise "Causes of Diseases and Their Treatment" wrote that cloves among othersmedications are treated with headaches, migraine, deaf coming after cold and dropsy, advised those who are shivering, warming with cloves, and those who are thrown into fever, use it for cooling. In the Renaissance, carnation during epidemics, for example the plague, was added to the aromatic marbles.
Essential Oil
Description. Clove oil is obtained from leaves and buds. In the water, to increase the boiling point, salt is added. To expel all the essential oil, the buds need to be processed several times. The oil just obtained is a colorless liquid of a slightly yellowish hue. After standing, it becomes dark brown. Aroma spicy, vanilla, sharp, slightly giving off a carnation.
Main components. This is mainly phenols, especially eugenol, one of the most potent antiseptics of the phenolic group, three to four times stronger than the rest. The composition of the oil also includes acetyl eugenol( it also gives a specific flavor), benzoic acid, benzyl benzoate, furfural, sesquiterpene( p-cariophilene) and vanillin.
Caution. In clove oil is often added vegetable( usually palm), as well as oil from grains and leaves of pepper clove. Sometimes as an impurity, a Copaic balsam, an oil obtained from the gum of Brazilian balsamwood Copaifera officinalis, is used. And this is very unfortunate, because the medicinal properties is possessed only by absolutely unmixed essential oil. It should be noted that clove oil can corrode metal.
Application of
For medicinal purposes. It seems that all the ancient manuscripts converge in the fact that cloves have many healing properties. It is stimulating, and gastric, and expectorant, and soothing, and carminative, and spasmolytic, and digestive. It helps with flatulence, improves the digestive system and returns appetite. That's why convalescents are advised to take it. As a strengthening agent, it is given to those who suffer from physical infirmity, mental overwork or frigidity. However, it is mainly appreciated for its antipollution properties. It is used against intestinal parasites and viral infections. It strengthens the immune system and is especially effective for oral infections.
With physical or mental fatigue or simple fatigue, I chew cloves several times a day. It is pleasant to the taste and helps to relax. It is especially useful to chew cloves for those who try to quit smoking.
Carnation, as everyone knows, helps with aching teeth. It not only kills decaying bacilli, but also soothes and to some extent acts as an anesthetic( the tongue slightly dies from it).In case of toothache, put a clove in the mouth from the side of the aching tooth or apply a cotton wool soaked with a drop of essential oil to the tooth. This will help you, until you go to the dentist, to endure the pain. Also, due to the clotting effect of cloves, no infection will enter the oral cavity. You can not abuse clove oil, leave it on the tooth for a long time( say, on cotton wool), as this can damage the gums. Here is the recipe for a dental elixir with a bad smell from the mouth. In a small amount of water, boil a few cloves for 5 minutes, let the broth cool down, then add a couple of mint leaves, strain the liquid and rinse the mouth.
For rheumatic pains, prepare the mixture: 25 ml of castor oil, 5 drops of juniper and wheat oil and 5 drops of clove oil( keep in a brown bottle).Apply to the affected area and stay warm.
In folk medicine, the infusion of cloves is given after the first battles to accelerate childbirth.
It also contributes to their quieter flow.
In some countries, cloves are often used to improve digestion, strengthen memory, and also as a good stimulant. Water extract of cloves used to treat eye diseases, and oil against toothache, as an antiseptic in angina.
3-5 pieces of cloves( for canning) pour a glass of steep boiling water and insist for 2 hours. Infusion to take 50 grams, but you can and all, depending on the severity of the disease.
In Chinese folk medicine clove oil is used for some skin diseases, and buds are included in the collection of plants used in malignant tumors. Clove oil is used in perfumery in the manufacture of perfumes and some varieties of soap.
Essential oil is obtained from air-dried flower buds of cloves, by distillation with water vapor.
Internal use: asthenia physical and mental( memory impairment), the prevention of infectious diseases, dyspepsia, fermentation in the stomach, diarrhea, the accumulation of gases in the intestines, pulmonary diseases( tuberculosis), intestinal parasites.
External use: scabies, ulcers, infectious wounds, dental neuralgia, lupus, for scaring off mosquitoes, mosquitoes, moths.
Method of application: 2-4 drops of essential oil 3 times a day in alcohol solution or with honey.
Wounds should be washed with a 2% solution of cloves. Application on the gums for periodontal disease: 3 drops of cloves, 3 drops of orange, apply 15 drops of olive oil on cotton wool or gauze and attach to the gums. With toothache: 1-2 drops per cotton wool and attach to a sick tooth.
In cooking. When preparing food, one should not get carried away with a carnation, since its scent is capable of hammering everyone else. It is possible for a fragrance to put one kidney of a carnation in a meat broth and a bread sauce or add for taste in a dish with meat or a chicken. In the water when cooking meat, always put a little cloves. Before making lamb leg, put a clove with a slice of garlic in it, then the smell and taste of the dish will improve significantly. Marinate meat should also be with a carnation. Onion, cooked with a carnation, is sweeter, and its aroma, mixed with onions, will be remembered for a long time. Cloves are put for a smell and in a traditional German dish-baked cabbage. In addition, it is put for flavor and aroma in curry and rice dishes. It is also one of the five spices included in the Chinese classic spicy mix.
A clove is added to a sweet apple pie or apple sauce served to pork.
Many drinks, if put in cloves, only win, especially spicy, warmed wines. Carnation is a part of many liquors, for example in Grenoble "Nossolio" or "Meris" and "Tafia" from Martinique and Guadeloupe.
Clove soup. This soup should be taken at the slightest feeling of discomfort in the beginning of winter - with a cold, colds, sore throat. To prepare it you will need: 600 ml of strong beef broth, 2 peeled and finely chopped bulbs, bay leaf, 6 cloves, salt to taste.
Put everything in a saucepan, bring to a boil, then boil for 30 minutes over low heat. Serve hot, previously removing the cloves and bay leaf.
Cloves, like spices, are used in the canning and confectionery industry, in the production of beverages.
Used carnations for dishes of red cabbage, pork, lamb, game, when marinating herring. Together with onions and kohlrabi leaves, it improves the taste of sauerkraut. Carnation is added to mushrooms, pouring from meat, improves the taste of pates. The unique taste of fish dishes, spaghetti, sauces to them and the famous Italian pizza, cloves in this case are put in the form of powder.
You can make a clove syrup: pour 30 g cloves with water( 0.5 liters), bring to a boil, insist for 15-20 minutes, then strain through a sieve. Combine with sugar syrup, bring to a boil and cook for 5-7 minutes.
Sugar syrup is prepared as follows: granulated sugar( 700 g) is dissolved in 400 g of hot water, stirring constantly, boil on low heat for 10 minutes. As the foam forms, gently remove it with a noisy coat.
In other industries. Carnation with orange has long been used in aromatic beads to protect clothes from scrap and moth. And in the Middle Ages with its help fought against the plague. Carnation is a part of dry perfume. Oil is used in perfumery, production of soap and bath salts. On the islands of Indonesia( and the inhabitants of this region, according to experts, consume half of the world's produced products), cloves are used for flavoring tobacco and cigars. They say that in the second century, BC.e.in China, the courtiers before they appeared before the emperor chewed the clove to repel a bad smell. Eugenol - the main component of clove oil - is still included in some of the known mouthwashes. The smell of cloves is an excellent remedy against moths.