Cloves are the unopened flower buds of the evergreen tree Eugenia caryophyllus. The tree is native to the Moluccas (Spice Islands), which are part of the Indonesian islands. It was taken to Mauritius and then on to the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba on the East African coast during the 18th Century. Zanzibar and Pemba are now the world’s largest producers of cloves.
Cloves must be dried before they are stored and sold for market. This brief outlines the important steps that should be taken pre-harvest and post-harvest to ensure that the dried cloves are of top quality for the market.
