How to mask the flavor of cloves

[Shule]

I discovered yesterday that black pepper can mask the flavor of cloves! This is tremendously joyful news for me. I think I'll start putting black pepper in all my ketchup. [Ketchup has cloves in it (sometimes a very noticeable amount, but usually it's a subtle flavor).]

I had some turkey franks, yesterday, and the meat itself tasted strongly of cloves. We had a lot of these hotdogs. Black pepper fixed the situation. I used a fair amount of black pepper (sprinkling it on the ketchup and mustard on the hotdog). I couldn't taste the cloves at all! They tasted like normal hotdogs (with the added benefit of black pepper flavor).

[worth1]

Put a couple of cloves in your mouth and chew them up.
After that you wont be able to taste cloves in your food.
Honestly I add ground cloves to ketchup.
My mother was a clove fanatic like hot peppers so I got used to them at an early age.

[peebee]

just curious [mention]Shule[/mention], does star anise bother you too?

[Shule]

[mention]peebee[/mention]
I'm not sure. I've never had star anise, but I have had regular anise (Pimpinella anisum) and anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum). Does star anise taste like cloves, or have similar uses?

I hear if you have star anise you need to take great care that you trust the source, and that it is pure Chinese star anise (Illicium verum). Other species can be quite toxic.

[worth1]

Star anise tastes like licorice like anise seed does.
But they are different plants.
It's interesting how many of these spices are used today compared to how they used to be used.

[Shule]

I like licorice (the candy and the legume root). I also like fennel, anise, and other seeds from the celery family. I have considered anise unpleasant on sausage on pizza a few times (but that's usually only when the pizza isn't cooked quite enough, or if I eat sausage pizza too often), but I like just chewing on the seeds. And although I like the celery flavor of celery seeds, it increases my sensitivity to artificial light (I'm still trying to figure that one out).

[EdieJ]

I hear cloves are good for toothache. Never tried it, though.

[worth1]

I hear cloves are good for toothache. Never tried it, though.

Clove oil not near as good as codeine.

[EdieJ]

[mention]worth1[/mention] I remember the days when cough syrup with codeine was sold over-the-counter. All these fancy new ones they have now and not a one of them worth buying