Cloves

Cloves are native to the Maluku islands — the original Spice Islands — and Indonesia remains the world’s largest producer. We source from established growing areas in Maluku, North Sulawesi, Java and Bali, where the unopened flower buds are hand-picked at the point where they turn from green to pink, then sun-dried until they take on their characteristic deep reddish-brown colour.

Why eugenol content matters

The commercial value of a clove lot is driven by its volatile oil, of which eugenol is the dominant component. Indonesian cloves typically test between 16% and 18%, which puts them at the upper end of the global range and makes them a strong input for oleoresin and essential-oil extraction as well as for direct culinary use.

Quality control

• Hand-picking at harvest to protect the crown and reduce headless buds
• Controlled sun-drying to reach 12% moisture without scorching the bud
• Mechanical and manual sorting to remove stems, dust and immature buds
• Laboratory verification of moisture and volatile oil per lot

Applications

Whole cloves ship to spice packers and food manufacturers for direct culinary use, to distillers for clove bud oil, and to the pharmaceutical and dental sectors where eugenol is used as an analgesic. Clove stems, which carry a lower but still commercially useful oil content, are available separately for distillation buyers.