At this time of year, certain spices get pulled from the spice rack especially for baking sweet and savory Christmas treats. I got curious about where they come from, and what they look like as a plant, and how they're harvested. Here's a sampling.
Cloves are the rich, brown, dried, unopened flower buds of Syzygium aromaticum, a tropical evergreen in the myrtle family (Myrtaceae) that reaches some 25 to 30 feet in height. The tree is native to various of the Maluku (or Spice) Islands in Indonesia, but nowadays is also grown in Madagascar and Sri Lanka. At one time, Zanzibar was the world's largest producer of cloves. Cloves had reached the Roman world by the first century AD, being mentioned by Pliny the Elder, and several centuries earlier Han dynasty emperors required that subjects chew on cloves before speaking to them, as a breath freshener. Clove picking commences just as the flower buds are about to turn from green to a pinkish red; they are then sun dried for 4–5 days.
Clove picking commences
once the tree buds turn from green to a pinkish-red over the course of
5-6 months. At this stage, they are picked and sun dried for 4-5 days.
Clove picking commences
once the tree buds turn from green to a pinkish-red over the course of
5-6 months. At this stage, they are picked and sun dried for 4-5 days.
Clove picking commences
once the tree buds turn from green to a pinkish-red over the course of
5-6 months. At this stage, they are picked and sun dried for 4-5 days.
Nutmeg and mace both come from the same tree, Myristica fragrans (in the family Myristicaceae)—nutmeg from the nut, mace from the red aril covering the nut. They have a similar flavor, but mace is more delicate. Originally found only on the Banda Islands of the Malukus, nutmeg was first traded by Arab sailors to Venice during the Middle Ages; in 1512, the Portuguese discovered the Bandas and joined the lucrative commerce. But it wasn't until 1621, when the Dutch East India Company waged a bloody battle upon the residents of Banda, that a plantation system was established—along with a Dutch trading monopoly on the spice. The British, however, achieved a toehold in the area as well, having occupied the nutmeg island of Rhun and gained the loyalty of its chief in the early 1600s. In 1667, under the Treaty of Breda, the British ceded Rhun to the Netherlands in exchange for the island of Manhattan (and its town New Amsterdam, soon to be renamed New York). Today, 75% of the world's nutmeg is grown in Indonesia, and 20% on the island of Grenada (introduced by the British), with other producers including India, Malaya, Sri Lanka, Papua New Guinea, and Caribbean islands such as St. Vincent. The seeds may fall ripe to the ground, or be "rodded" off the tree; they are collected, the mace and seed separated, and dried. The full process of nutmeg handling can be read about here.
There are two types of cardamom, true or green, from the plant Elettaria cardamomum ☞, and distributed from India to Malaysia; and black, from the plant Amomum subulatum, native to the eastern Himalayas and cultivated in eastern Nepal, Sikkim, the Darjeeling district of India, and southern Bhutan. Both are in the ginger family (Zingiberaceae). They are characterized by small seed pods, triangular in
cross-section and spindle-shaped, with a thin, papery outer shell and
small, black seeds. In 1914 a German coffee grower introduced Indian cardamom to Guatemala, which by 2000 had become the largest producer and exporter of the spice, followed by India and Sri Lanka. Cardamom is the third most expensive spice in the world, after vanilla and saffron. Cardamom pods are harvested 30–40 days after the plant has flowered, just before the pods are fully ripened—and then carefully dried so they don't lose their color.
Cinnamon is obtained from the inner bark of a few species of trees in the genus Cinnamomum (laurel family, Lauraceae). These include "true" cinnamon, C. verum, native to India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Myanmar, though the most common commercial variety is the related C. cassia, native to China.In 2016, Indonesia and China produced 75% of the world's cinnamon, followed by Vietnam and Sri Lanka (bringing the total to 99%). Cinnamon was imported to Egypt as early as 2000 BC, where it was used to embalm mummies. Herodotus and Aristotle named Arabia as the source of cinnamon—and wrote about a mythical bird there, the cinnamalogus, that built its nest out of cinnamon sticks. The fact that the spice actually came from farther east was not reported until the early 1200s. Here is a video showing cassia being harvested in Sumatra:
Allspice, also known as Jamaica pepper, myrtle pepper, or piment, is the dried fruit of the Pimenta dioica plant, a midcanopy tree in the myrtle family (Myrtaceae) native to the Greater Antilles, southern Mexico, and Central America. It got its English name as early as 1621 because it is said to combine the flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove. Where allspice is a local crop, the wood is used to smoke meats (as in Jamaican jerk), and the fresh leaves are used in cooking much like bay leaves. Allspice is often found in sausages, is a key ingredient in many Middle Eastern dishes, and may be a component of curry powder. The fruits are picked when green and traditionally dried in the sun; when cured, they resemble large, smooth peppercorns.
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