Clove

Cloves come from North Maluku – today Indonesia produces and consumes more of them than anywhere else, mostly in fragrant kretek cigarettes.

The clove is an evergreen tree of the myrtle family, growing to 10–15 m, with a conical crown and leathery, glossy leaves that are fragrant when crushed. The spice consists of the unopened flower buds, picked by hand as they turn from green to pinkish, then dried in the sun until they darken and take on the shape of little nails. They contain an essential oil rich in eugenol, with anaesthetic and antiseptic properties, used among other things in dentistry. Buds left on the tree open into flowers with tufts of stamens, and then into dark purple fruits.

Significance in the country

For centuries cloves grew on only a few islands of North Maluku, such as Ternate, Tidore and Makian, which drew the Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch here. Indonesia is now the world’s largest clove producer, but most of the harvest goes into kretek cigarettes – a blend of tobacco and shredded cloves, whose name imitates the crackling sound they make when smoked.

Where it grows

Its homeland is North Maluku (Ternate, Tidore, Makian, Bacan); today the main plantations are on Sulawesi – especially North and South Sulawesi – in Maluku, and in Central and East Java.

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