Clove + Flour
A good pairing. Cooks put them together in 12,671 recipes, and they share 111 flavor molecules: the top 15% of all ingredient pairs.
Do clove and flour go together?
Yes. 12,671 recipes in our collection combine them, and they share 111 flavor molecules. That places them in the top 15% of every ingredient pair we score.
Why they work
Almost everything flour carries, clove has too: 111 of flour's 115 flavor molecules also occur in clove. Among the shared key aromas are isobutyraldehyde (malty, green) and eugenol (clove, spicy).
What each one brings
clove
The fruit. Fruity notes make up 17% of its labelled aroma molecules, against 3% for flour. It carries 200 molecules flour doesn't have.
flour
The tartness. Sour notes make up 24% of its labelled aroma molecules, against 12% for clove. It carries 4 molecules clove doesn't have.
Add a third ingredient
- Cinnamon: the best fit for both, top 1% of pairs with clove, top 9% with flour.
- Allspice: top 1% of pairs with clove, top 13% with flour.
- Nutmeg: top 1% of pairs with clove, top 8% with flour.
- Cardamom: top 1% of pairs with clove, top 8% with flour.
Ranked by the average of its two pairing scores. Only foods used in at least 100 recipes are suggested.
Recipes with clove and flour
Spread across courses: mains lead with 463 of the 981 recipes with a course label, then desserts (438) (from a sample of 3,000 recipes that use both).
Can you swap one for the other?
Only partly. Almost all of flour's flavor molecules (111 of 115) are also found in clove, but clove has 200 that flour lacks. Flour gives you part of clove's character without most of its fruit. This compares flavor only; texture, moisture and the job each does in a dish matter too.
All 111 shared molecules
See every shared molecule grouped by chemical class, with key aromas marked, plus the 200 only in clove and the 4 only in flour.
Clove and flour questions
Do clove and flour go together?
A good pairing. Cooks put them together in 12,671 recipes, and they share 111 flavor molecules: the top 15% of all ingredient pairs.
Why do clove and flour taste good together?
Almost everything flour carries, clove has too: 111 of flour's 115 flavor molecules also occur in clove. Among the shared key aromas are isobutyraldehyde (malty, green) and eugenol (clove, spicy).
What goes with clove and flour?
Cinnamon is the best third ingredient: top 1% of pairs with clove and top 9% with flour. Allspice and nutmeg also fit both.
What can you make with clove and flour?
Spread across courses: mains lead with 463 of the 981 recipes with a course label, then desserts (438) (from a sample of 3,000 recipes that use both). Common dishes include Almond Flour Pound Cake, Fruit Cake, Plum Pudding, Suet Pudding.
Can I use flour instead of clove?
Only partly. Almost all of flour's flavor molecules (111 of 115) are also found in clove, but clove has 200 that flour lacks. Flour gives you part of clove's character without most of its fruit. This compares flavor only; texture, moisture and the job each does in a dish matter too.
Compare other ingredients
Ranks compare this pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. Molecule counts are what the studies and databases we aggregate have reported for each ingredient: a measure of coverage, not a full census. How we score pairs
Cite this analysis
Compound Kitchen (2026). Compound similarity analysis: Clove vs Flour. https://compkitchen.com/compare/clove-vs-flour. Accessed 2026-11-03.
@misc{compkitchen_compare_compound_similarity_analysis_clove_vs_flour_2026,
title = {Compound similarity analysis: Clove vs Flour},
author = {{Compound Kitchen}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://compkitchen.com/compare/clove-vs-flour},
note = {Accessed: 2026-11-03}
}
Methodology DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19719459 · CC BY 4.0 · Citations are a request, not a requirement.