Clove Pods

Cloves are the rich, brown, dried, unopened flower buds of Syzygium aromaticum, an evergreen tree. They are strong, pungent, and sweet. Cloves spice is used throughout Europe and Asia and is smoked in a type of cigarettes locally known as kretek in Indonesia. Cloves are the unopened flower buds of the clove tree. An evergreen native to Indonesia and India that grows from eight to twelve meters in height, the clove tree produces flower buds in clusters that are pale in color at first, become green, and then bright red, when they are ready for harvesting. Unopened flower buds are green first, then slowly change to pink or red or crimson, then finally bright red when in full bloom.