Clove bud

The clove tree is a tropical evergreen, lush with green leaves and reddish-brown buds which burst into many-headed white flowers. The word clove comes from Latin clavus, meaning nail, for the bud’s shape. It is this bud from which our fragrant clove oil is extracted, using a water distillation process. Grown in Northeastern Madagascar, the buds are removed in clusters from the tree’s branches, then hand-picked and sun-dried until they turn brown. Alongside nutmeg, black pepper, and mace, cloves were once one of the most valuable commodities in the world, prized as much for their exotic mystique as their warm, spicy aroma.