Laung Buying Guide: How to Spot Good Quality Cloves

Good cloves are plump and oily, dark reddish-brown, and still have the round bud head attached at the top — and they release a sharp, sweet aroma the moment you scratch one with a fingernail. Dry, dusty, pale cloves with broken-off heads have already lost most of their oil, and no amount of simmering will bring that flavour back.

Cloves are known as laung in Hindi, lavang in Marathi and Gujarati, lavanga in Bengali and Kannada, and krambu in Tamil. In English they are simply cloves — the dried, unopened flower buds of the clove tree, picked before they bloom.

Most of us buy laung once and then forget about the packet for a year. Here is how to pick a good one in the first place, and how to keep it worth using.

What does a good quality clove look like?

You can judge cloves with your eyes and fingers alone. Look for:

• An intact head. A whole clove has a slim stem with a small round knob on top. Cloves with the knob broken off are the lower grade the trade calls khoka — cheaper, but far weaker in aroma.
• Deep reddish-brown colour. Pale, greyish or ash-coloured cloves are usually old or have had their oil extracted.
• A plump, slightly oily feel. Press one between your fingers. A fresh clove feels firm and faintly greasy; a spent one feels light, hollow and snaps like a twig.
• Aroma on the nail test. Scratch the stem with a fingernail. You should get an immediate warm, sweet, almost medicinal smell. If you have to hold it to your nose and hunt for the smell, skip it.
• No dust or powder at the bottom of the pack. Fine brown powder means the cloves have dried out and are crumbling.

Does the clove water test really work?

It is the oldest kitchen check there is, and it is genuinely useful. Drop a few cloves into a glass of room-temperature water. Oil-rich cloves are heavy, so they sink, or float upright with the bud head pointing up. Cloves that lie flat on the surface have lost their oil and will taste like woody stems in your chai.

One caution: this is a rough guide, not a laboratory test. A single stray floater in an otherwise good batch means nothing. If most of the cloves lie flat, that is your answer.

Whole cloves or clove powder — which should you buy?

For everyday Indian cooking, whole is the better buy. You can always crush a clove in a mortar when a recipe wants it powdered, and you get the fresher flavour of the two. If you would like a jar to start with, our ODM Cloves (Laung) are handpicked whole buds with no artificial colours and no fillers.

How should you store cloves at home?

• Airtight glass or steel, never plastic zip pouches. Clove oil is volatile; a loose seal is what actually costs you the aroma.
• Away from the stove. The cabinet directly above the burner is the worst spot in the kitchen — heat and steam both drive the oil off.
• Dry spoon only. One damp spoon is enough to start clumping, and clumped cloves go musty.
• Do not refrigerate. Every time the jar comes out, moisture condenses inside it.
• Keep them whole until you need them. Grind small amounts as required rather than powdering the whole lot.

How much laung should you buy at a time?

Cloves are used in pinches, not spoons — two or three buds season an entire pot of pulao. For most homes, 50g to 100g lasts several months and stays fresh the whole time. Buying half a kilo because it looked like better value usually ends with a tin of flat, woody cloves at the back of the shelf.

The same logic applies to the rest of your whole-spice shelf: buy small, buy whole, finish it. Our whole black pepper and green cardamom keep best the same way, and cloves are one of the core buds in a good whole garam masala mix.

FAQ

How do I know if my cloves have gone bad?

Cloves rarely spoil in the way food spoils — they simply go flat. If the buds are pale and brittle, crumble to powder when pressed, and give almost no smell when scratched, they have lost their oil and are worth replacing.

How long do whole cloves last?

Stored airtight in a cool, dark cupboard, whole cloves hold good aroma for about a year, and are still usable beyond that with less punch. Ground clove is best finished within three to four months.

Why are some cloves missing the round head on top?

That round knob is the unopened flower bud, and it carries most of the aroma. Headless cloves are a lower commercial grade — they cost less and are often mixed into cheap packets, which is exactly why it is worth looking at the buds before you buy.

Next time you refill your masala dabba, tip a few cloves into your palm and do the nail test — it takes two seconds and tells you everything. If your current packet does not pass it, our handpicked laung is a good place to start fresh.