Description: Originating in Indonesia, cloves are dried flower buds from the clove tree. They are a popular spice that people use in soups, stews, meats, sauces, and rice dishes. Their name comes from the Latin word clavus, which means nail since the shape of a dried clove resembles that of a nail. People have used cloves in cooking and traditional medicine for many years, but it is only recently that scientists have begun studying their potential health benefits. Cloves belong to Myrtaceous family and are native to India and Indonesia. Clove has been used as a spice in India and clove is an evergreen tree of humid tropical climates. In India, cloves can be grown in all the areas of the country except in the coastal sandy belt area. But hilly tracts of the Western Ghats and the red soils of Kerala are most and best suitable for clove cultivation.
Health Benefits:
- Cloves may temporarily treat tooth pain and you can temporarily reduce the pain by dabbing a little clove oil on a cotton ball and placing it or on your gums or on the sore tooth.
- Cloves may Improve digestion.
- Cloves may relieve upper respiratory infections.
- Clove may reduce inflammation.
- Cloves may be used in treating bruises and scrapes.
Locations of harvest:
Time period of harvest:
Harvest Process: The flowering of clove trees starts from the 4th year of its planting (Under good soil condition and management). But the full bearing stage of clove plant is reached only after 15 years. The flowering season is September to October in plains and December to January at high altitudes. The unopened clove buds are harvested when they start to turn into pink colour. At this time, they are less than 2 centimetres long. The opened flowers are not valued as a spice. Harvesting of cloves should be done using step ladders without damaging the tree branches, as it adversely affects the succeeding growth.
Dehydration Process: Cloves are handled with special care. Damaged buds may appear in black which affects the price set for the commodity in the market. Cloves are immersed in hot water boiled up to 80 degrees Celsius for one minute and dried in mild sunlight, which prevents the clove parts turning black when drying. Cloves can be dried in about 25 hours with a temperature set to 45 to 50 degrees Celsius using a cabinet type artificial dryer. The quality of cloves will be affected if the temperature is increased more than the desired amount. Reddish brown buds, which fall into the special grade category, can be obtained by following the correct method of processing and should be free of extraneous particles. Clove buds dried to the correct level should snap when bent. The moisture percentage of these buds should be 10 to 12 percent. A technologically advanced apparatus, the ozone dryer, can be used to dry cloves to produce ones of optimum quality.