Cloves vs. Star Anise: Flower Bud vs. Fruit, Eugenol vs. Anethole

Cloves and star anise share a pot more often than they share a flavor. They meet in Chinese five-spice, pho broth and Sichuan chili oil, but one can’t really do the other’s job. A clove is a dried flower bud from a myrtle-family tree, and it tastes of eugenol. Star anise is a dried fruit from an unrelated tree, and it tastes of trans-anethole, the same licorice compound as anise seed. If you buy star anise, buy it as a food spice: a toxic look-alike, Japanese star anise, sometimes turns up mixed in.¹

Side by side

The oil figures in the two columns aren’t the same kind of number. The clove figures are oil content of the bud; the star anise figure is a distillation yield. Both come from PROSEA, but from separate entries and samples, so they show that cloves are far oilier without pinning down by how much.

What you’re looking at

Cloves. PROSEA describes the clove as a flower bud 1 to 2 cm long. The long part is a tubular calyx that ends in four small, fleshy lobes, and the round head on top is made of four petals still stuck together; on the tree they drop off as a single cap when the flower opens.⁴ The ball is the unopened petals, not the sepals.

Star anise. The “star” is a cluster of boat-shaped pods (follicles), usually 8 but anywhere from 5 to 13, forming a fruit 2.5 to 4.5 cm across. Each rough, reddish-brown pod holds one smooth, glossy, light-brown seed about 8 to 9 mm long.¹

How they taste, and why

Cloves are strong in aroma and hot and pungent in taste. PROSEA gives eugenol as 70 to 90% of clove bud oil, with eugenyl acetate up to 17%.⁴ Eugenol is also why clove oil turns up in dentistry: a 2020 review notes its analgesic, anesthetic and antiseptic effects.⁸ In food, cloves taste sweet-warm, medicinal and faintly numbing, with a bitter, astringent edge if you use a lot. The Spice House also says cloves bring sweetness along with bitter flavors.⁹

Chemically, star anise is much simpler. Its oil is 70 to 93% trans-anethole and has an anise-like smell and sweet flavor. PROSEA notes that star anise competes with anise seed for some of the same market because anethole is the major oil component in both.¹ That shared compound is why star anise tastes like licorice and cloves do not.

Where you’ll find them together

• Chinese five-spice. The usual five are fennel seed, cassia, cloves, star anise and Sichuan pepper, with licorice base notes and sweet top notes. Star anise is one part among several, not the main ingredient by weight: The Woks of Life’s recipe uses 2 parts fennel and 1 part star anise to 1/3 part cloves.¹⁰ Commercial blends vary.
• Pho. NPR’s one-day pho adds star anise, cinnamon, cloves and peppercorns to the broth.¹¹
• Sichuan-style chili oil. The Woks of Life’s chili oil infuses the oil with 5 star anise, cassia, bay leaves and Sichuan peppercorns, with cloves as an option.¹²

Where each one goes alone

Cloves. Cloves flavor many foods, particularly meats and baked goods. They’re among the spices commonly used in garam masala, and Saveur’s Cincinnati chili uses them with cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg.¹³ Whole cloves also get studded into a ham or an onion, or simmered in mulled drinks.

Don’t assume cloves are in pumpkin pie spice. McCormick’s lists cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and allspice, and no cloves.¹⁴ Check the label of your jar.

Star anise. In China, star anise generally goes into pork and chicken dishes. The Woks of Life’s red braised pork belly simmers 2 star anise with cinnamon and bay leaves.¹⁵ The fruit and its oil also flavor liqueurs, baked goods, puddings and meat products. A star or two in apple pie filling or poached fruit is your call, though it isn’t a tradition.

Can one stand in for the other?

Only partly, and only one direction has published guidance. See star anise substitutes and clove substitutes for the full ranked lists.

Cloves in place of star anise. Ratio (Attributed): use cloves only when star anise is one warm spice among several and the licorice isn’t the point. The Spice House says cloves can work because they also bring sweetness and bitterness, and advises using less clove than you would star anise.⁹ A Couple Cooks suggests “a small pinch” of ground cloves.¹⁶ Neither gives a measured amount. If the licorice matters, as in pho or red-braised pork, anise seed or fennel is the better swap (see the star anise substitutes page).

Star anise in place of cloves. We found no source that recommends this swap. In a blend of several warm spices, a small piece of star anise can fill the gap, but expect a licorice note cloves never have. Ratio (Method): start with a quarter of a star per two or three whole cloves in a simmered liquid, taste, and add more. For a clove-like flavor, the clove substitutes page ranks ground allspice first.

Whole to ground. Ratio (Attributed): McCormick’s conversions are 1 whole star anise to 1/2 teaspoon ground, and 3 whole cloves to 1/4 teaspoon ground.¹⁷ These are volume conversions for the same spice, not a ratio between the two.

Safety

Japanese star anise. Illicium anisatum is a separate species in the same genus.⁷ In September 2003 the FDA advised the public not to drink teas brewed from star anise after about 40 illnesses, about 15 of them in infants, and said Japanese star anise “has long been recognized as toxic in many countries.”⁶ PROSEA notes that star anise is sometimes adulterated with similar-looking fruits, including Japanese star anise.¹ Buy star anise sold as a food spice, and never cook with star anise sold for decoration.

Clove oil is not the spice. The European Medicines Agency’s monograph on clove oil as a traditional herbal medicine says it’s not recommended for children and adolescents under 18.⁵ We found no regulator or clinical source that sets a level at which cloves eaten in food become a concern.

What isn’t known

• The essential-oil figures in the table come from separate PROSEA entries and samples and measure different things (oil content vs. distillation yield).
• We didn’t find anyone who publishes how much clove or star anise a commercial five-spice contains; it varies by brand and recipe.
• You’ll often read that cloves are central to masala chai, gingerbread or jams, or that star anise is the main spice in five-spice. We couldn’t trace any of that to a source.

Related

• Cloves, cooking with cloves, ground vs. whole cloves, too much clove
• Star anise, cooking with star anise, star anise uses
• Star anise substitutes, clove substitutes
• Star anise vs. anise seed, allspice vs. cloves, cloves vs. cinnamon
• Chinese five-spice powder, pumpkin pie spice, garam masala