THE CINNAMON AND THE CLOVES

CINNAMON

BOTANICAL NAMES: Cinnamomum verum, C. zeylanicum
OTHER NAMES: Ceylon cinnamon
FORMS: quills and ground

True cinnamon comes from the bark of a tropical evergreen tree, a member of the laurel family, native to Sri Lanka. It has a long and venerable history, and it was known in the time of the pharaohs an in ancient Greece and Rome. It is mentioned in the Torah, and it was one of most sought-after commodities in the early days of the spice trade. Today, Sri Lanka is the main producer, and its cinnamon is believed to be the best. Cinnamon is also cultivated in other tropical regions, particularly the Seychelles.

The bark of the tree is harvested during the rainy season, when it is moist and easier to remove. “Cinnamon peelers” are highly skilled, and often several generations of the same family will be involved in the harvests, each generation learning proficiency from the one before it. Workers first cut the small branches, or shoots, from the trees and scrape off the coarser outer bark. Then the thin inner layers are cut and painstakingly rolled into scrolls, or “quills,” and allowed to air-dry, protected from the sun. When the bark is processed, smaller pieces, called quillings, often break off, and these are inserted in the quills as the peelers form them. Quillings that break off as the cinnamon dries are used for ground cinnamon. Cinnamon bark is thinner and more brittle than cassia bark, and the fragrance is more delicate as well. The aroma is warm, sweet, and agreeably woody, and the taste is equally warm. Unlike cassia, cinnamon bark can be ground at home in a spice grinder. The quills are paler than cassia quills, and the powder is pale tan rather than reddish-brown.

CLOVES

BOTANICAL NAME: Eugenia caryophyllus
FORMS: whole and ground

Cloves are the unopened flower buds of a tropical evergreen tree native to the Moluccas (aka the Spice Islands) in eastern Indonesia. They were an important part of the early spice trade (Columbus was looking for the Spice Islands when he landed in the West Indies).

Their name comes from the French word clou, meaning “nail,” because of their appearance, with a rounded head and tapered stem. Indonesia remains one of the largest producers, and the trees are now grown in Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Tanzania, and Grenada as well.

Cloves are harvested by hand, and the trees must be at least six years old before the first harvest, though they will then continue to bear fruit for fifty or so years longer. There are two yearly harvests, and the process requires a delicate touch. The buds are gathered when they have reached full size but have not yet opened, and they do not all reach the proper stage at the same time, so the pickers have to be discerning when choosing which clusters of buds to harvest. Then the buds are removed from the stems, again by hand, and dried in the sun for several days.

Dried cloves should be dark reddish-brown, though the bud end, which is surrounded by four “prongs,” will be somewhat lighter. They are pungent and highly aromatic, warm and slightly peppery. The taste is strong, even medicinal, warming, and sweet; if chewed, cloves leave a lingering numbing sensation on the tongue. Good-quality cloves may release a small amount of oil if pierced with a fingernail. When purchasing whole cloves, avoid jars or packages with many noticeable stems, which have far less of the volatile oil than the buds. Ground cloves should be dark brown; a lighter color is an indication that the mix includes ground stems as well and is of a lesser quality.

Cloves are used in Middle Eastern, Indian, and North African cooking, in rich or spicy meat dishes, including Moroccan tagines, and in some curries, and they enhance many rice dishes. With their strong flavor, they should always be used sparingly. When the dish is served, the whole cloves may be removed or not, but they are generally not consumed. A clove-studded onion is often added to chicken stock as it simmers. Cloves are used in baking in Europe and North America, and in poached fruits and mulled wine. They combine well with many other spices, especially warming ones, and they are an ingredient in numerous spice blends, including garam masala, quatre épices, baharat, and berbere.

MEDICINAL USES: Cloves have been valued for medicinal purposes since ancient times, as a painkiller, among other uses (clove essential oil is still used to treat toothaches). They are also believed to alleviate intestinal distress, and they can be chewed as a breath freshener.

By Padma Lakshmi (with Judith Sutton) in "The Encyclopedia of Spices and Herbs",Harper Collins Publishers,USA, 2016. Adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa

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