There is no other smell as spicy but mellow as that which wafts from clove balls.  I have been known to confuse my aniseed with my liquorice and even spearmint with peppermint but, I will repeat, there is no smell like that of clove balls.  Unscrew the lid of the jar or liberate one from the bag in which it nestles with it's mates and the aroma that will hit you is utterly unique.

What is the source of this pungent aroma and how did it get to be such a popular, if traditional, favourite sweet?  Well, clove oil has been long used to ease tooth pain – a real problem in the days when dental work was primitive and available to only the few.  Even as late as the inter war years it was thought a fitting wedding gift, from a working class bride to your husband, to exchange all her teeth for a nice shiny set of dentures. Loss of teeth was common during pregnancy due to a combination of poor diet and poor dental hygiene so whipping them all out in one go avoided a lot of expense.  Rural communities might relay on the visit by the 'dentist' traveling with the fair to whip teeth out with a set of pliers – constant practice had the merit of making him fast and this was an accepted public entertainment spectacle. Little wonder that tooth pain relief was a priority!

Clove oil is extracted from the clove plant, Syzygium aromatica, the main oil producing countries being Madagascar and Indonesia.  The plant itself is a rather attractive tree reaching up to 12m in height with flowers that grow in tight tubular clusters. What we would recognise as the clove is in fact the unopened flower bud – think of those strange and pungent little club headed sticks that granny used to stud the ham with at Christmas.  Their nail like appearance makes them ideal to embed in the ham and indeed the name 'clove' actually derives from the Latin 'clavis' or nail. Another use the tack like aspect of the clove lends itself to is the studding of oranges that are then hung up as a sweet smelling Christmas decoration – in the times when spices were luxuries this would have been a rich man's indulgence. Indeed in the 17th and 18th centuries cloves cost at least their weight in gold! Cloves are used in several cuisines although best used with discretion due to their extreme pungency. The Dutch are probably the major European users due to their Indonesian links

The active ingredient in clove oil is eugenol which can also be extracted from cinnamon, nutmeg, basil and bay leaf. It has both antiseptic and analgesic properties – kills infection and lessens pain.  Different grades are extracted from the buds, the leaves and the stem respectively. However in all cases this is rather a poky little liquid – it is actually toxic to human cells and if too much is consumed can actually cause fatal complications.  As well as that, if put undiluted in the mouth it tastes frankly horrid and will burn the skin – makes you wonder how they actually discovered how to use the stuff but, thankfully, they did.  Dilute with olive oil and put a pad soaked with clove oil blend in the mouth to produce a traditional pain relief, then please do follow up with a visit to the dentist, they are really very nice people these days.

More interesting applications are in the treating of aquarium fish and then, if the treatment hasn't worked, in higher doses, giving them a painless death.  It can be used as a mosquito repellent and for killing bed bugs.  Herbicides can be made from the oil and, when a very small amount is added to a carrier oil, is used for cleaning, polishing and generally caring for Japanese swords.

On a slightly less aggressive note, clove oil can be used to retard the drying of oil paints giving a longer period in which they remain workable. Aphrodisiac qualities have also been ascribed to cloves and, until their recent banning, clove flavoured cigarettes were enjoyed in America as they still are in Europe and Asia.

So next time you fancy indulging in a sweet that has history, luxury, exoticism, eroticism and just a whiff of danger, clove balls have to be the one to go for – tooth ache or no toothache!