Why Cloves Are So Expensive | So Expensive

[Music] in the forest of south india harvesters climb trees as tall as 50 feet to hand pick these clove buds [Music] when exported less than half a pound of these dried cloves cost thirty dollars that's ten times as much as some cumin but as they focus on keeping their balance harvesters must also be careful not to break the buds if they do the value of the clove drops significantly and that's just where the risk begins to harvest cloves correctly workers put their lives on the line so what makes cloves worth the risks and why are they so expensive [Music] clothes are the flower buds of clove trees that haven't blossomed yet when dried they're commonly used as a spice a clove flavor is complex with notes of sweetness bitterness and heat the oil found in cloves has medicinal properties that make the spice valuable outside of just cooking cloves with the round head or crown still intact have the most oil but to get cloves with the highest possible oil content highly skilled workers are needed at every stage clove is harvesting is a very big job it's a very risky job so we we have to get special people to do that to get to the top of the trees harvesters like shibu rely on only a ladder and some ropes he reinforces the bottom of the ladder with mud so it doesn't move as he navigates the tall tree shibu ties a sack to his waist and then he starts his climb working his way from the top of the tree to the bottom harvesters can't pick too soon or too late or the cloves will drop in grade and value in addition to picking at the exact right time and being careful not to harm the clove bud they need to be sure not to break the tree branches they climb otherwise the tree will have a lower yield next harvesting season [Music] navigating all these elements can be extremely dangerous in black rock estates harvesting cloves has led to death a couple of years back we lost a worker who was in love while he was plucking the lightning strike team we lost almost about six of them was they had paralyzed like we had to take them and rush them down to the hospital and they were admitted for a month yet hand-picking is the only way farms like blackrock estate have managed to keep delivery in quality clothes because timing is crucial charles needs a big team to pick the clothes as soon as they're ready which is usually mid to late february charles can sell the clothes for their highest price in the first 25 days of the harvesting season the more he can harvest during this time the better it is for business when the clove season is fully on when we have a very good crop we get about nearly about 300 workers during peak harvesting season these workers make around 30 a day on average once the clove clusters are picked harvesters carefully remove the individual buds from the stalks and leaves they sift and sort each bud according to its size age and whether it has a top it's best if the circular crown of the clove where it would otherwise flower is still intact this improves the spice's taste and aroma even though there are machines to help with this process charles prefers to pay for it to be done by hand to lower the risk of clove damage they have globe breaking and sorting with machinery but still the half the close is damaged in that we get broken clothes in that so it's not very good doing to the machine the highest quality clothes were picked at the right time just before they turned pink or flowered they're large and plump and still have the crown second quality cloves also still have their tops but they're smaller they were either picked too early or too late and the third quality has no crown with the top having either flowered or broken off after the sorting workers leave the cloves out to dry in the sun high quality cloves take three days to dry under good sunlight but a quality clove won't always get sold as the highest grade because official grading doesn't happen until after it's dry if there's too little or too much sun the clothes quality drops instead of golden brown it becomes black and it loses one of its most valuable properties its oil content first quality cloves are the most fragrant and have the highest oil content the headless third quality cloves have the least and the difference shows in the price charles sells his first quality cloves for about dollars a kilogram and its lowest grade for under seven dollars clove oil is mostly made up of the compound eugenol which is not only responsible for the cloves familiar aroma but also for its medicinal benefits researchers have noted eugenol has antimicrobial anti-inflammatory pain relieving and antioxidant properties so the demand for clothes goes beyond their culinary uses clothes are so sought after in india that charles is able to sell more than just the buds we sell everything nothing goes to waste even the pollen the dust everything we sell that's also because the clothes he grows kanye kumari cloves are known for their high oil content and strong aroma in fact these cloves were awarded a gi indication in 2021 [Music] charles says kanyakumari cloves are the most expensive variety in india when you go to the market to buy cloves the crop price will be about three times the price what we give it'll be about 2000 rupees where we get only 750. the retail price is so much higher because of the supply chain to maximize on profits for the farm charles won't sell his clothes directly to consumers who only buy smaller amounts as needed instead he sells to clothe dealers who buy large quantities dealers like franklin roosevelt then have to keep the clothes fresh until they sell them to retailers if he doesn't store the clothes properly their shelf life drops globally temperatures temperature to cover the cost of quality control franklin sells clothes to stores for almost 12 dollars a kilo the shops that buy from franklin have to pay transportation and packaging costs bringing the retail price of clothes in india even higher but one of the biggest challenges in every step [Music] foreign between 2018 and 2019 india lost 13 metric tons of cloves due to heavy rainfall and while the global clove market is expected to grow by three and a half percent by 2027 the changing climate may still continue to disproportionately [Music] there's a new show coming for you this time about expensive foods and the people behind them we've already shown you some of the pricey foods the world has to offer now join us as we take you underground for anti-caviar in mexico inside the luxury mango market in japan and beyond so expensive food coming soon [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Business Insider

Views: 2,310,998

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Id: HTO0Cswnnuc

Length: 9min 19sec (559 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 16 2022