Cloves (Mkarafuu)
The king of Zanzibar spices - dried flower buds of a tropical evergreen tree that made the island the world's clove capital in the 19th century and still perfumes it every harvest season.
HOW TO IDENTIFY IT
Small, nail-shaped dried buds, dark reddish-brown and slightly oily. The smell is intense, warm and medicinal-sweet. Bite one gently: a genuine clove numbs and tingles on the tongue.
CULTURE & KITCHEN
Cloves built Stone Town - the plantations and the trade financed the sultans' palaces you can still visit. Today they season pilau, masala chai and even local cigarettes, and Zanzibar remains one of the world's top producers.