Clove

This is another fairly common Indian spice that was first found being traded at a port in Sri Lanka somewhere during 900-1100 CE. However, it is native to the Molucca Islands which is now a part of Indonesia. Cloves contain a very distinctive kind of a sweet smell with an equally sweet-spicy flavor.

An interesting historical fact about cloves is that before approaching their Emperor, the Chinese had to have a few cloves in their mouth as a way of sweetening their breath. This suggests that in ancients, cloves were also used as mouth fresheners instead of breath mints that are typically used today.

Whole cloves are often used in curries and other liquids since they also provide quite an aesthetic appeal while ground cloves are popularly used in a variety of sweet treats. They are also used for a number of health-related purposes including toothaches, vomiting, nausea, and indigestion, to name a few.