Food HistoryResembling small
nails, the name clove is in fact derived from the French word clov, meaning nail. Each "nail" is an unopened flower bud of the clove tree, a tropical evergreen member of the Myrtle family. A clove tree, known botanically as Eugenia aromatica, may live 100 years. They begin producing fruit at seven years and come into full maturity around 25 years. The average crop yield is eight pounds although each year is different. The trees are indigenous to the Moluccas, also known as the Spice Islands. For a period of time around the 1700's, it looked as if the clove trees would never grow anywhere but the island of Amboina.
As early as 200 BC, envoys from Java to the Han-dynasty court of China brought cloves that were customarily held in the mouth to perfume the breath during audiences with the emperor. During the late Middle Ages, cloves were used in Europe to preserve, flavour, and garnish food. Clove cultivation was almost entirely confined to Indonesia, and in the early 17th century the Dutch eradicated cloves on all islands except Amboina and Ternate in order to create scarcity and sustain high prices. This was the plan instituted by the Dutch government to control their monopoly of the valuable spice. They proceeded to destroy every clove tree that grew on any other island in the Moluccas.
In the latter half of the 18th century the French smuggled cloves from the East Indies to Indian Ocean islands and the New World, breaking the Dutch monopoly.
Resembling small nails, the name clove is in fact derived from the French word clov, meaning nail. Each "nail" is an unopened flower bud of the clove tree, a tropical evergreen member of the Myrtle family. A clove tree, known botanically as Eugenia aromatica, may live 100 years. They begin producing fruit at seven years and come into full maturity around 25 years. The average crop yield is eight pounds although each year is different. The trees are indigenous to the Moluccas, also known as the Spice Islands. For a period of time around the 1700's, it looked as if the clove trees would never grow anywhere but the island of Amboina. Food History
nails, the name clove is in fact derived from the French word clov, meaning nail. Each "nail" is an unopened flower bud of the clove tree, a tropical evergreen member of the Myrtle family. A clove tree, known botanically as Eugenia aromatica, may live 100 years. They begin producing fruit at seven years and come into full maturity around 25 years. The average crop yield is eight pounds although each year is different. The trees are indigenous to the Moluccas, also known as the 
