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The problem with this mistake is that many people throw away a spice that costs very little and miss out on one of nature’s best anti-swelling helpers. They might spend a lot of money on other things when they could get similar benefits from something already in their kitchen.
⚠️The Second Mistake: Bad Storage
Before we get into more mistakes, let’s talk about how you store cloves. You could have the best cloves in the world, but if you store them wrong, it’s like having a car without wheels. A clove left out in the open air can lose half its eugenol in just three months. The main enemies of eugenol are light, heat, and moisture. Light breaks down the active parts, heat makes them disappear, and moisture dilutes them and can cause mold.
So, how do you keep this treasure safe? Store it in a dark glass jar or a ceramic container, and make sure it’s sealed tight. Keep it in a cool, dry cupboard, away from the stove or sink. A pantry is perfect. If you buy ground cloves, try to use them within six months. Whole cloves can last up to two years if you take care of them.
Our silent enemy is ongoing swelling, the kind that slowly harms our joints, arteries, and organs without us even knowing. The eugenol in cloves is a great fighter against this enemy. But a clove without eugenol is like a soldier without weapons. It can’t fight swelling or protect your cells from damage. It just becomes a spice for flavor, without any healing power.
People in the 15th century knew this. They carried cloves in sealed boxes, wrapped in cloth. They treated them like gold because they understood that their healing power depended on how well they were kept. We’ve lost that knowledge because cloves are so easy to get now, and we just see them as a simple seasoning. A good way to tell if your cloves are still powerful is to smell them. Strong cloves have a sharp, intense smell. If they smell weak or like old wood, they’ve lost their good stuff.
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