In the course of transporting, bleaching and grading the quills, some breakage takes place; the broken lengths and fragments of quills of all grades are bulked, packed in bales of 100 lb (45 kg) and are sold as quillings.

Feat herings grade consists of the inner bark of twigs and twisted shoots which will not give straight quills of normal length. They are thus also genuine cinnamon but they often contain a proportion of chips. Like the quillings, featherings are exported in bales of 100 lb (45 kg).

These oleoresins differ in the quality of their flavour and odour and in the content and composition of volatile oil and, therefore, in their flavour strength. Volatile-oil contents of commercial ‘cinnamon oleoresin’ have been reported to range from 16 to 60 per cent. The details of their preparation are more than usually meagre but Ceylon cinnamon yields 10 to 12 per cent of oleoresin with ethanol and 2.5 to 4.3 per cent with benzene, and according to Salzer Chinese cassia (from C.cassia) yields an oleoresin containing about 66 per cent volatile oil.

In Sri Lanka, cinnamon leaf oil is generally produced by steam distillation of dried leaves on rather simple, but nevertheless effective, equipment. At one time, two types of leaf oil were produced which possessed differing properties.

In the Seychelles, cinnamon leaf oil is produced by water – steam distillation (with cohobation) of leaves which are hand-stripped from shoots cut for bark production. Collection of leaves takes place at intervals of 18 to 20 months during January to September. The young leaves are unsuitable for distillation during the ‘flushing period’ which occurs in the rainy season from October to December. The average yield of leaves is 1.8 tonnes per hectare.

Leaves alone give a lower yield than a mixture of leaves plus twigs, and the best quality oil is obtained from material harvested in the summer and autumn from trees which are 5 to 7 years old.

Plants from a heated frame or greenhouse will have to be hardened off before being planted out, and it is usual to do this in cold frames, although an unheated greenhouse will serve.

pot tubers are miniature tubers grown under semi-starved conditions, usually in small pots, mainly to serve as an insurance policy against loss during the winter as they generally keep much better than the large open ground tubers. This is particularly helpful when using varieties which are difficult to keep. They have a very considerable commercial value as they can be sent out during the winter, and will safely travel long distances without risk of deterioration.

Water from the main is much freer from infection, and, if stood in the greenhouse for a few hours, or a little warm water is added to take the chill off, will be much safer to use even in the very early stages. Even then it is advisable when spraying to add a little permanganate of potash to the water, which for this purpose, particularly when spraying cuttings, should be Cleanliness at all stages must be the watchword; disease arising from neglected areas can ruin weeks or months of hard work. Wash down and thoroughly disinfect the greenhouse and frames at least once a year; this will mean emptying the greenhouse for a time, but it is well worth it.

Indonesian cassia (Cinnamomum burmannii (C.G. & Th. Nees) Bl. C. burmannii is the main source of Indonesian cassia, in which there is a considerable export trade. The tree is found in Sumatra, through Java, and eastwards to Timor, from sea level to 2 000 m.

The main centre of cultivation is the west coast of Sumatra in the Padang area between 550 m and 1300 m, at which altitudes the tree grows best. It is also grown at lower altitudes in Sumatra. A form in which the young leaves are red grows at the higher altitudes mainly in the region of Mount Korintji and is known as Korintji cassia; it is of better quality. A form with green young leaves, growing at lower altitudes, produces Padang cassia, also known as Batavia cassia or cassia vera.

A large number of insects have been recorded on cinnamon, but they usually represent single records in the early years of the century and none appear to have caused serious widespread damage.

The quality of the dried spice is primarily assessed on its appearance, size and the content and aroma character of its volatile oil. Dried cloves should be free of mustiness and mould and the best prices are obtained for whole dried cloves of a good bold size with a bright, uniform reddish-brown colour.

The quality of the dried spice is influenced by a number of factors which include the care taken in the harvesting, drying, cleaning and sorting operations and the conditions used for storage.

Termites never attack mature healthy trees, but will damage roots and stems of trees in a moribund condition. The red tree ant, Oecophylla longinoda Latr., known in Zanzibar as maji-ya-moto (`hot water’), is a serious nuisance in a clove plantation. It makes large nests about 15 cm in diameter by manipulating its larvae to sew the leaves together. The very active, pugnacious workers move up and down the trunk and limbs on foraging expeditions.

The bulk of cloves used in industry are bought in whole form and ground by the user firms. A fairly small proportion of the total input is used in direct flavouring applications, but by far the biggest outlet in the industrial field is in the production of sauces and pickles, a field occupied by a very few well-known firms of large size.

Between 1936 and 1966 Zanzibar’s exports of the oil varied between 100 and 200 tonnes and averaged 130 tonnes. Exports then dipped to 87 tonnes in 1967 and after a sharp rise to 204 tonnes in 1968, fell sharply and in the years 1969-72 were 61, 42, 23, and 28 tonnes respectively, reflecting a sharp drop in local production.

The recent substantial price rises have not had as great an effect as might have been expected, but although this may be because many firms are carrying on with their accustomed formulations in the hope that prices may revert to near- normal levels, there is already evidence that some firms have been quick either to substitute for the clove spice in their formulations or simply to omit it altogether.

Madagascan oil is required to have a minimum eugenol content of 82 per cent. It is however reported that Indonesian oil, which used to have a reputation for decidedly inferior quality and low eugenol content, now contains 80-82 per cent eugenol and is often preferred to oil originating in Madagascar.

Steady expansion of production took place during the 1960s and average annual production now exceeds 1 000 tonnes. The principal users of the oil are the USA, France, the UK, the Netherlands and Japan, in that order, the USA accounting for nearly one-half of the total market.

The demand for clove leaf oil seems likely to remain buoyant, at least for some years. In spite of obvious reluctance of users in the past, this oil has gained ground at the expense of the dearer and scarcer stem oil, a trend which may well continue. The oil additionally remains unchallenged as a source of eugenol, but if its price were to rise much above its present level it might lose part of this market to cinnamon leaf oil or, ultimately, to a synthetic eugenol which, although not yet a commercial proposition, presents a potential competitive threat.

Trends in consumption and prospects Indonesia apart, there is no evidence of any great growth in the clove market over the past 50 years. In spite of the partial recovery in 1954-8 in comparison with the 1950-3 figures, which must have been influenced at least to some extent by the after-effects of the Second World War, trade sources confirm that clove consumption is not increasing significantly in the long term.

Not much is known about the structure of Madagascar’s export trade, but it seems to have been more centralized than was the case in pre-revolution Zanzibar, and in any case the price of cloves from Madagascar had always tended to follow that of Zanzibar cloves, a situation which continued to apply after 1964.

These figures apply to present-day usage and in the past the proportion attributable to culinary usage was much higher; oleoresin extraction is a comparatively new departure and it is only during the past 25 years that the mass markets for cosmetics and for many various prepared foods have really come into their own.

Cloves thrive best in insular maritime climates at low altitudes in the tropics. They are seldom grown above 200-300 in above sea level, but Yegna Narayan Aiyer (1960) records them at over 900 m in India, and Sheffield (1950) at 600 in in the Seychelles. In their original home in Banda in the Moluccas, which is practically on the Equator and where the trees are semi-wild, the rainfall varies from 2 210-3 607 mm per annum, with no pronounced dry period, and temperatures ranging from 24 to 30 C in the south-east monsoon and from 27 to 33 C in the north-west monsoon. Some drier weather is desirable for harvesting and drying of the crop. The continuously humid climate of Singapore was not as successful for cloves as was Penang.

Upright hardwood poles, for which clove saplings are sometimes used, are placed 2.5 in apart along the side of each path. On these are placed horizontal cross-members; in Zanzibar these are commonly mangrove poles which are weather-resistant. These support the screens, which can be rolled back in wet cloudy weather or when hardening off the seedlings prior to lifting.

If we accept the separation, the correct scientific name for the clove is Syzygium aromaticum (L.) Merr. & Perry. The most common synonyms are Catyophyllus arotnatica L., Eugenia aromatica Kuntze, E. caryophyllata Thunb., and E. caryophyllus (Sprengel) Bullock & Harrison.

A Zanzibar Arab, Harameli bin Saleh, said to have been banished by the Sultan for the crime of murder, is thought to have been the servant of a French officer and to have obtained the seeds in Reunion. These he presented to the Sultan, Sayyid Said bin Sultan, and so obtained his pardon. The first plants were grown near the royal palace of Mtoni, 6 km north of the town of Zanzibar, with later and more extensive plantings at Kizimbani.

On the founding of Penang by Captain Light in 1786, clove trees seem to have been sent from the Seychelles, but they did not survive. The East India Company’s botanist, Christopher Smith, who was trained at Kew, was sent to the Moluccas, of which the British had obtained possession, to obtain plants of cloves and nutmegs.