Cloves are the dried, unopened flower buds of the tropical evergreen Syzygium aromaticum, native to the Maluku Islands (the historic "Spice Islands") in Indonesia. Today most commercial cloves come from Indonesia, Madagascar, Zanzibar, and Sri Lanka, where the reddish-pink buds are hand-picked and dried into the familiar dark brown, nail-shaped spice.
Cloves have a strong, warm, slightly sweet and woody flavor with a faint menthol edge, and are used both whole and ground. They're a core ingredient in garam masala and other spice blends across Indian and Middle Eastern cooking, showing up in curries, rice dishes, and marinades, and in Western baking they're a fixture of mulled wine, gingerbread, and pumpkin pie.
Cloves pair naturally with other warm spices - cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice - as well as citrus, and with rich meats like beef, pork, and poultry.