Dark-brownish in colour, cloves are the dried aromatic flower buds of the clove tree. They have elongated bodies with a flowery head and look like small nails. They have a strong taste and sweet pungent smell that gives spicy warmth to soups, sauces, curries, meat, pickles and also to flavour sweet dishes like cookies, cakes and fruit pies. Cloves act as antioxidants, cure mild toothaches, aid digestion and help control blood pressure, etc.
Resembling cumin, in shape and size, fennel is a different spice altogether. Fennel (saunf) exude an anise-like sweet fruity aroma that makes them a widely-used savoury spice in pizzas, soups, sauces, confectioneries, etc. They are added in cooking, mainly as a flavouring base. They are used as a condiment after food to improve digestion and also as a mouth freshener.
Cinnamon is a dried bark of various laurel trees in the Cinnamomum family The True Cinnamon is the dried inner stem bark of Cinnamomum Verum Cinnamon plants are grown as bushes One of the more common trees Cinnamon is derived from is the cassia Cinnamon has a sweet taste and a woody fragrance in both grounds and sticks forms Due to the rising popularity of Cinnamon cinnamon export from India is rising day by day Export of cinnamon is also a good source of revenue for the exporters todayCinnamon is naturally grown in the forests of Western Ghats It is also cultivated in Kerala Karnataka and Tamil Nadu It is grown in one or two locations in Kerala