Buds, spices from

The most important considerations in marketing and estabUshing a crop from a new source are constancy of supply and quahty. Eor some spices, it is difficult to reduce labor costs, as some crops demand individual manual treatment even if grown on dedicated plantations. Only the individual stigmas of the saffron flower must be picked cinnamon bark must be cut, peeled, and roUed in strips mature unopened clove buds must be picked by hand and orchid blossoms must be hand pollinated to produce the vanilla bean. 

The market for flavours and aromas is large and was worth 16 billion in 2003 [7,8]. There are about 6,500 flavours known but of these only 300 are commonly used. At present 50-100 are produced by microbial fermentation, and many of the rest are chemically synthesised. In many cases, flavours and aromas are very complex mixtures extracted from pulp, bark, peel, leaf, bud, berry and flowers of fruit, vegetables, spices and other plants. The particular flavour or aroma will depend on the balance of these compounds, although a number are due to a single compound. 

Clove (Syzygium aromaticum (L.) Merril. Perry, syn. Eugenia aromaticum or E. caryo-phyllata) is one of the most ancient and valuable spices of the Orient. It is a member of the family Myrtaceae. The clove of commerce is its dried unopened flower buds. The word clove was derived either from the Latin word clavus, or the French form clou, meaning nail . The buds resemble irregular nails. 

Cloves are more often used to assist the action of other herbal remedies rather than alone. When not available, allspice is substituted. It is spicy, warming, stimulant, anodyne, anaesthetic (topical), antiemetic, antigriping (added to other herbs), vermifuge, uterine stimulant, stomachic, aromatic, carminative, antiseptic, antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, antispasmodic, expectorant, aphrodisiac and promotes salivation and digestive juices. The oil is expectorant, anaesthetic, emmenogogue it affects the kidney, spleen and stomach and has preservative properties. Tea made from clove bud (other herbs/spices can be used or added to cloves, such as allspice, bay, cinnamon and marjoram) has been used to relieve bronchitis, asthma, coughs, a tendency to infection, tuberculosis, altitude... 

Cloves are the flower buds from a tropical tree that can grow to 50 feet in height. The buds are hand-picked in the Moluccas (the Spice Islands) of Indonesia, the East Indies, and the islands of the Indian Ocean, where a tree can yield up to 75 lb of the sun-dried buds we know as cloves. 

The term artificial flavor or artificial flavoring means any substance, the function of which is to impart flavor, which is not derived from a spice, fruit or fmit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, fish, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof. Artificial flavor includes the substances listed in 172.515(b) and 182.60 of this chapter except where these are derived from natural sources [37],... 

Spices—dried roots, bark, buds fraits, seeds, or berries—are plant products used to enhance flavor, color, and palatability of foods and beverages. In contrast, herbs are mainly the fresh or dried leaves of aromatic plants. Since ancient times, spices have been an important part of our lives as exotic and aromatic enhancement to food and as folk medicine. Today, spice use is ubiquitous, although the frequency of use of individual spices varies widely from country to country. In addition to their culinary value, spices... 

Essential oils with phenylpropenes are found, e.g., in the Apiaceae, Lauraceae and Myrtaceae families. Many of these phenylpro-pene-containing plants have been employed by humans since antiquity as condiments and herbal remedies. Cloves, the unopened flower buds of the evergreen clove tree Syzygium aro-maticum, Myrtaceae) native to the Maluku islands, are used as spice, but also as anaesthetic and antiseptic in dentistry. The active ingredient and major component of essential oil from... 

Spices have little in common except for their use. They usually come from tropical plants and different parts of various spice plants may be used. For example, cloves come from the bud, cinnamon comes from the bark, pepper comes from the fruit, ginger and horseradish come from the root, and mustard comes from the seed. 

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