Cloves are used to give aromatic and flavor qualities to hot beverages, often combined with other ingredients such as lemon and sugar.
They are a common element in spice blends..Cloves are used in Indian Ayurvedic medicine, Chinese medicine, and western herbalism and dentistry where the essential oil is used as an anodyne (painkiller) for dental emergencies.
Cloves are used as a carminative, to increase hydrochloric acid in the stomach and to improve peristalsis.
Cloves are also said to be a natural anthelmintic.
The essential oil is used in aromatherapy when stimulation and warming are needed, especially for digestive problems. Topical application over the stomach or abdomen are said to warm the digestive tract.
Applied to a cavity in a decayed tooth, it also relieves toothache.