Buyer's Guide to Bulk Cloves: Grades, Specifications and Packing

Cloves are the dried, unopened flower buds of the clove tree, Syzygium aromaticum, traded whole or ground and valued for eugenol, the compound that provides most of the aroma and pungency. In bulk trade the usability and value of a lot come down to a small number of measurable parameters. A buyer who writes those parameters into the purchase order, with test methods, avoids most disputes at arrival.

How are cloves graded for bulk trade?

Cloves are graded by the share of intact whole buds, the volatile oil content and the level of stems, mother cloves and foreign matter, not by one universal grade name. Grade names vary by supplier and market, so the same words can describe different quality on two quotations. The categories below are what the names usually refer to.

• Whole select or hand-picked grade: buds with the head (the four-petal cap) attached, uniform brown colour, minimal stems. Headless buds are typically under 3 to 5 percent and stems under 1 to 2 percent.
• Fair average quality (FAQ): sound whole cloves with a wider tolerance for headless buds (often up to 8 to 10 percent) and stems (up to 3 to 5 percent).
• Headless cloves: buds that have lost the head. Lower oil, lower value, used for grinding and extraction.
• Mother cloves (khoker): the fruit that develops from buds left unharvested. Low in oil, treated as a defect in whole clove lots and sold separately.
• Clove stems: the flower stalks. They contain some oil but are a separate product; in a whole clove lot they are a defect.

What an experienced buyer adds: ask for headless buds, stems and mother cloves as three separate percentages. A single line reading "defects max 5 percent" lets a seller fill the allowance with whichever defect is cheapest to include.

What specifications should a purchase order for cloves state?

A workable clove specification covers moisture, volatile oil, the three defect percentages, ash and foreign matter, with the test method named for each. ISO 2254 is the international standard for whole and ground cloves; most large buyers write their own specification around it. The table shows figures commonly seen. Where a figure varies, it varies by grade, crop season and destination market.

Parameter	Typical specification limit	Commercial range seen in trade
Moisture	max 12% (ISO 2254)	8 to 12%
Volatile oil, whole cloves	min 16% ml/100 g (ISO 2254 and most major buyer specs)	14 to 18%; anything below 16% is a commercial minimum for lower grades, not a standard minimum
Volatile oil, ground cloves	min 12%	10 to 14%
Headless cloves	max 5%	2 to 10% depending on grade
Stems	max 5% (also the US FDA defect action level for whole cloves)	1 to 5%
Mother cloves (khoker)	max 2%	1 to 3%
Foreign matter	max 1%	0.5 to 1%
Total ash	max 7%	5 to 7%
Acid-insoluble ash	max 0.5%	0.2 to 0.5%

Two points a generic specification misses. First, volatile oil declines in storage, so a certificate of analysis (CoA) dated several months before shipment may overstate the oil in the lot as shipped; ask for a CoA drawn from a composite sample of the actual lot within about 30 days of loading. Second, state the destination for residue limits. Pesticide tolerances differ between the United States, the EU and other markets, and a lot that clears one may not clear another. Microbiological limits are normally Salmonella absent in 25 g plus buyer-defined limits for E. coli, yeast and mould; steam treatment can be specified for ground product where the end use requires it.

How do you check clove quality at the warehouse?

Warehouse checks are rules of thumb that flag a lot for laboratory testing; none of them replaces a CoA. Three are in common use.

1. Headless count. Spread about 100 g on a tray, separate the intact whole buds (head attached) from headless buds, stems and mother cloves, and weigh each fraction. Convert to percentages and compare with the specification.
2. Press test. Pressing a bud with a fingernail should release oil and a strong aroma. Dry, brittle buds with little oil point to old stock or low volatile oil.
3. Float test. Dropped into water, oil-rich cloves sink or float vertically, head up; buds that float flat tend to be low in oil. There is no standard threshold. A visibly high share of flat floaters is a reason to send the lot for volatile oil testing, not grounds for rejection on its own.

Also look for uniform colour, absence of mould odour and any admixture of exhausted cloves, meaning buds from which the oil has already been extracted. Exhausted cloves are dull, light and nearly odourless and are a known adulterant in lower-priced lots.

How are bulk cloves packed and how much fits in a container?

Whole cloves are typically packed in 25 kg or 50 kg polypropylene woven or jute bags with an inner food-grade polyethylene liner; ground cloves go into 25 kg multi-wall paper or polypropylene bags with a liner, or cartons of 10 to 25 kg. The purchase order should state bag weight, liner type and whether the load is palletised. Smaller retail-ready packs are available on request.

Whole cloves have a bulk density of roughly 0.4 to 0.5 kg per litre, so a 20-foot container is volume-limited and typically carries around 10 to 14 metric tons in bags. A 40-foot container is weight-limited at roughly 20 to 26 metric tons. Palletising reduces these figures by about 10 to 20 percent. Quantities vary with bag size and how the container is stowed, and are confirmed on the quotation.

Shelf life in cool, dry, dark storage is typically 24 to 36 months for whole cloves and 12 to 18 months for ground. Ground cloves lose oil much faster, so a manufacturer that grinds in-house is usually better served buying whole and grinding close to use. Cloves are also strongly aromatic and should not be stowed with products that absorb odour, such as tea or flour.

What documents does a US importer need for cloves?

A standard clove shipment to the United States travels with a commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading, certificate of analysis, phytosanitary certificate, certificate of origin and, if fumigated, a fumigation certificate. Country of origin is stated on the quotation and documents. US FDA prior notice must be filed before the shipment arrives, whoever submits it, whether the importer, a customs broker or an agent; ODOD's FDA facility registration supports that filing. The US importer of record also needs a Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP) file for the product, which is where the CoA, specification and supplier certificates are kept. ODOD provides ISO, Halal, HACCP and GMP certificates with each quotation.

Whole or ground: which should a buyer specify?

Whole cloves suit retail packing, tempering, biryani and chai; ground cloves suit masala blending, meat processing and bakery. For ground product, specify the grind size (40 to 60 mesh is common) and state that it must be ground from whole cloves of a named grade. Powder ground from stems or headless buds meets a lower oil figure and is a frequent source of complaints when a blend tastes flat. Cloves are rarely bought alone: buyers building a blend or a tempering range usually pair them with seeds such as ajwain in bulk, and beverage packers combine them with cardamom tea lines. Manufacturers of ready bases such as biryani paste typically hold a ground clove specification separate from their whole clove specification for the same reason.

For whole or ground cloves in quantities from 500 kg to full container loads, with the grade, defect limits and packing written to your specification, request a quotation from the ODOD Sourcing Team. Prices depend on grade, quantity and destination, and certificates and the port of loading are confirmed on the quotation.