Interesting History With Illustration Showing Flower, Bud and
Fruit--Where Grown and Commercial Uses
Cloves are dried, unopened calyces or flower buds of the clove tree,
Caryophyllus aromaticus, a kind of myrtle, a native of the Molucca
islands. In commerce they are chiefly distinguished by their place of
growth and rank in the following order: Penang, Bencoolen, Amboyna, and
Zanzibar. In addition to these there enter into commerce as secondary
products, clove stalks and mother cloves, or the dried ripened fruit.
The bulk of these secondary products are shipped from Zanzibar.
The clove tree is an evergreen, 15 to 30 ft. high. It has a thin
smooth bark and adheres closely to the wood, which is a gray color
and of little use. The leaves are 3 to 5 in. long. The upper side and
foot-stalk is red, shading to a dark color, while the under surface
is green. The flowers grow in small bunches at the extremities of the
boughs, very like the flower-buds of the lilac tree, and all are of a
delicate purplish color. The calyx is long and forms the seed sack.
As the blossoms fade the calyx changes color from yellow to red. If
allowed to remain on the tree after this the calyx swells like that of
the rose. In this state it loses its pungent properties and is called
mother clove, and is practically of no value as a choice spice. The
cultivated trees are kept pruned to about 8 or 10 ft. in height.
[Illustration]
The harvesting of the flower-buds commences immediately after they
assume a bright red color. Such blossoms as can be reached are plucked
by hand, while those that grow on the upper branches are beaten down
with bamboo poles and caught in clothes spread beneath the trees. They
are then dried in the shade or by hanging on hurdles over slow wood
fires--they lose about half their weight in the drying process. They
are usually finished off in the sun, which gives them a darker color.
The quicker they are dried the less the loss of aroma. Good cloves
have a strong aromatic smell, a hot, spicy taste and a light brown
or tan color. The season for harvesting is from September to March.
A 10-year-old tree yields about 20 lbs. of cloves a year, the yield
increasing up to 100 lbs. for a 20-year old tree.
Penang cloves are from the Straits Settlements. They are large, plump
and of a bright color. Amboyna cloves are not so large as the Penang
and are of a dark brown color. Zanzibar cloves are smaller than the
Amboyna, a bright reddish color and generally very dry. Pemba cloves
are small and dark in color and mostly arrive in a damp condition, and
therefore lose weight if kept long.
Cloves have sometimes a portion of their oil extracted, which gives
them a pale, thin, shriveled appearance, altho they may be freshened up
by rubbing with a little oil or passed off by mixing with good cloves.
Cloves that have been tampered with have a good proportion of their
heads or knobs off; altho another cause for headless cloves is that
they may have been gathered when too ripe.
Pure oil of cloves is almost colorless, with a faint yellow tinge and
the strong smell and burning taste of cloves. When old it turns to a
reddish brown color. It has a greater specific gravity than water, in
which it will sink.
Clove stalks and mother cloves are used in the manufacture of ground
cloves and mixed spices. In Brazil the flower-buds of the tree whose
bark furnishes cloves cassia are often used as substitutes for true
cloves. The clove tree attracts so much moisture that herbage will
not grow beneath its branches and the clove of commerce has such an
affinity to water that if placed near a vessel of water they will
absorb enuf of the moisture in a few hours to appreciably increase
their weight. It is said that dealers often take advantage of this to
increase the weight of their goods and thus enhance their profits.
=A Little Clove History=--This spice was well known to the ancients
and is mentioned by several Chinese authors as in use under the Han
dynasty, B. C. 266 to 220, during which period it was customary for
the officers of the court to hold the spice in their mouth before
addressing the sovereign, in order that their breath might have an
agreeable odor. At this period the clove was called fowl’s tongue
spice. In 1265 A. D. the price was 12s per lb. In 1609 a ship of the
East India Co., called the Consent, brot 112,000 lbs. to England which
was sold at 5s 6d per lb. As was the case with nutmegs, the Dutch
attempted to control the business in cloves. With this object in view,
they caused all the clove trees to be destroyed except those of the
island of Amboyna. The natives of the island were compelled to rear
a certain number of plants each year and also to protect the bearing
trees. The French, however, found a number of clove trees growing wild
in the smaller island, and Poivre, French governor of Mauritius, who
obtained the plant from the island of Guebi, introduced the clove tree
into that colony in 1770. About 1800 an Arab named Harameli-ben-Selah
took some seeds and plants from Boubon to Zanzibar and commenced the
cultivation of cloves in that country. The word clove is derived
from the Latin clavus nail, Spanish clavo and French clou, owing its
nail-like appearance.