Clove Essential Oil: A Bud Worth Its Weight in Gold

Welcome back to Harvesters’ Corner! Spring is in the air where I live, and I am excited as I have several new buds and blooms on my rosebushes outside. Today we are going to look at a different type of bud, the humble Clove bud, which often finds itself being used as a spice in cooking as people prepare hams and other culinary treats this time of year. The basis for the name “Clove” comes from the Latin Clavus, or “nail,” due to the resemblance of the bud to a nail. The buds themselves are the precursor of flowers, picked before they blossom, and grow on evergreen trees that are native to islands in the northern Moluccas Islands chain in Indonesia. These trees grow to a height that can range from 26-40 feet (eight to twelve meters) tall. It can take a new tree about three years to mature to where it can begin bearing fruit, and about twenty years to reach its full height. A well-nurtured tree can produce fruit for close to eighty years. (1) The fruit starts out as a bud which blossoms into a flower that turns bright red. If left unattended the flower will develop into a purplish ball about one inch (2cm) in diameter, which will turn a dark red as it ripens. The spice is derived from harvesting the unopened buds, which are gathered by hand and then dried in the sun. (2) This period of drying not only helps to extend the shelf life of the spice it also enables the oil distilled from the bud to be more potent. (3) The clove is a member of the Myrtaceae family, and has multiple species. The main species we will be looking at in a bit is Eugenia caryophyllata.

Clove plant parts

A Deep Dive Into the Spice That Shaped History and Heals Today

Clove was originally indigenous to the islands of Ternate, Tidore, Bacan, Moti, and Makain. For generations untold, the indigenous people labored to cultivate and harvest the buds. (4)  The earliest known use of clove dates to the Han Period of China’s history (206 BC to AD 220), one of the Golden Eras of China’s heritage. The buds were used starting around 300 BC by members of the royal court, who would chew the buds to freshen their breath while they were waiting to address the Emperor. During the years preceding the Han period, the bud’s popularity grew and we find it in Chinese literature in cookbooks being used as a spice and in traditional medical tomes being used to combat oral nerve sensitivity. For several centuries the Chinese imported the buds from the indigenous people of the Moluccas. Then the Arabs came. It is due to Arab influence that the humble buds grew in popularity. We find their use in Egypt starting around AD 100 and spreading throughout Europe from AD 300 to AD 500. (5) By the Eighth century clove was a staple spice in Europe. What made the Eighth century so important to Clove’s history? The network of trading routes known collectively as the Silk Road became more established. These various trails connected Europe to China. Trade caravans headed in both directions led to the economies of both continents flourishing. Spices like Clove did not take up much space but were worth more than their weight in gold once they reached their final destination in the market squares of many European towns and cities. Much of the land these caravans passed through were held under Arab rule, and the Arabs kept the source of the precious buds a closely-guarded secret. (6)

The Arab monopoly on Clove lasted up to the 1500s, which was when the Dutch learned where the buds originated. The Dutch not only broke the Arab trade monopoly where the spice was concerned, they assumed control and tightened it. Under the Dutch East Indies Company, the only island authorized to grow the trees was the island of Amboina, where the Dutch East Indies representative lived. The trees growing elsewhere were destroyed. (7) For nearly three hundred years the Dutch monopoly made the low-lying country one of the most powerful countries in Europe. During the 1500s a pound of Clove purchased in Britain typically cost about thirty pence, the rough equivalent of five days wages for a skilled craftsman. (8) To put this into perspective, a pound of sugar cost eighteen pence, two chickens cost three pence, and a gallon of good ale, always appreciated by the hard-working artisans after a busy day cutting stone or carving intricate details into wooden frames, cost one and a half pence for a gallon of refreshment. (9)

Exploring the Power, Purpose, and Past of the Clove Bud

Clove buds on the tree

What was Clove used for anciently? We have already mentioned that it was used to freshen breath in China. In India it saw much use in cooking such as Indian masala chai tea and Indian garam masala, as well as being used in traditional medicine. In Europe it was used to flavor wines and ales, as well as baked goods, especially spice cakes. Among the most unusual uses I discovered were the use by both indigenous women and Chinese women who incorporated the spice into their aphrodisiacs, as they felt it helped increase their carnal appetite, while indigenous men used the buds in time of war. They believed that eating the bud would render them invisible to their enemies and thus make them immune to enemy attacks. (10)

Much of the early sea exploration by the Portuguese during the mid-1500s was to circumvent the Arab grip on the spice trade. Other European countries—notably Spain, England, and the Netherlands—were fierce competitors in this sea-based trade. The outgrowth of these rivalries culminated in the British East Indies Company and the Dutch East Indies Company. As discussed above, the latter had a firm monopoly where Clove was concerned. That changed around 1769, when a French naturalist—Pierre Poirre—smuggled ripe Clove berries from Ambonia and planted them on the French possession of Mauritus, in the Indian Ocean.

The Fascinating Story of a Small Bud With a Big Legacy

In our modern-day Clove is grown in many regions including Indonesia, Madagascar, Tanzania and Sri Lanka. Its uses include being incorporated into multiple national dishes, and even in some brands of ketchup. The spice is also a staple in the fall season, where it gets combined with other spices to create pumpkin pies. I want to focus in a bit more on Madagascar, where doTERRA sources the buds for their oil. Clove was introduced into the island’s biosphere in the early 1900s, over one hundred years after being planted at the neighboring island of Mauritius. The trees are allowed to grow semi-wild, or in other words, not directly cultivated on plantations like Ravintsara or Ylang Ylang. The trees are tended to as needed and grow in bunches ranging from ten to fifty trees. They often grow alongside coffee trees or around rice paddies.

The relationship between Co-Impact Sourcing and the growers and harvesters in Madagascar has strengthened over the years. Many farmers wanted to supplement their income from growing coffee and rice, but didn’t have the resources to invest in a new crop. Clove provides them with such an opportunity. The Clove trees do not require extensive care during times when the grower’s attention is focused on their established crops, and are easily harvested when the time arrives, usually around November, the springtime for the Southern Hemisphere. The growers have easy access to a good distillery through Co-Impact Sourcing, located in the regional capital of Mananjary, which eliminates the need for any form of middleman in the process. Two of the region’s many farmers, Joseph Claudis and his wife Rosine, are providing a better education for their young son because of the income derived from their Clove harvests. There are many others who are experiencing similar opportunities to better their children through education, as well.

Clove oil is a fantastic aid in cleaning teeth and gums. Its aroma is warm and woody and helps create a stimulating and energizing environment. The oil’s primary constituents—eugenol and beta caryophyllene—can also help maintain health digestive and cardiovascular systems. Clove can also be used topically with Fractionated Coconut Oil for a warm, energizing massage. You can combine Clove with other spice oils and/or citrus oils for use aromatically in a diffuser. In addition, let’s not forget one of my main loves where these oils are concerned, namely that they are one hundred percent pure and as such can be used in baking and cooking. The purity of the Clove oil enables it to be Generally Regarded as Safe (GRAS) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. I love using it with Cinnamon and Cardamom in pie fillings or adding a drop in a spice cake mix for extra zing. Clove has been a fascinating topic to research, and I hope you will continue this journey with me as we take a look at Basil in our next episode on Harvesters’ Corner.

Sources

1.    McCormic Science Institute. “Cloves.” Online. <www.mccormickscienceinstitute.com/resources/culinary-spices/cloves>. Accessed 24 March 2025.

2.    Ibid.

3.    doTERRA.  “Source to You: Clove.” 20 June 2022. Online. <sourcetoyou.com/en/stories.story.clove2>. Accessed 24 March 2025.

4.    Yoo, Genie. “Cloves: The Spice that Enriched Empires.” 20 September 2024. Online. <daily.jstor.org/cloves-the-spice-that-enriched-empires/>. Accessed 24 March 2025.

5.    Green, Denzel. “Cloves.” Cooks Info, 7 June 2018. Online. <www.cooksinfo.com/spices/cloves/>. Accessed 9 April 2025.

6.    Ibid.

7.    Yoo, Genie “Cloves: The Spice that Enriched Empires.”

8.    Ibid.

9.    Crowther, David. “Medieval Prices and Wages.” The History of England, 2017. Online. <www.thehistoryofengland.co.uk/resource/medieval-prices-and-wages> Accessed 9 April 2025.

10.  Yoo, Genie “Cloves: The Spice that Enriched Empires.”