After ousting the Portuguese, the Omani Arabs ruled over Zanzibar. Their influence wasn’t really felt until 1804, when Seyyid Said bin Sultan arrived from Oman and fell in love with this lush tropical island. He made Zanzibar the capital of the Omani empire and moved his court and palaces to the island in 1832. In 1818, he introduced cloves to the islands and they flourished in the sunshine and fertile soil on the west coasts of both Unguja and Pemba.

During the nineteenth century, clove mania hit the islands and the archipelago became the largest producer of cloves in the world. Coconuts, cloves, ivory and slaves powered Zanzibar’s economy, making it a centre for trade. In 1860, cloves made up 22% of Zanzibar’s exports, with the royal family receiving a hefty 25% export tax on all clove exports, despite the stagnation of the market caused by overproduction.

The royal family owned several plantations, manned by slaves, picking, drying and sorting cloves in the baking sun. Over time, other spices were introduced from Asiaand South America, including cinnamon, ginger and cardamom, which have come an ingrained part of Zanzibari life. The archipelago became known as the Spice Islands and it was said that sailors were greeted by the scent of cloves on the wind as they sailed into port in Zanzibar.

The spice trade has declined, with some farms receiving more money from tourism and spice tours than the sale of the crops. Pemba remains more committed to clove production, in part a legacy from the hurricane in 1872, which swept away two thirds of the clove trees on Unguja. Pemba increased its output to compensate for this and Unguja was hit again in 1940 by drought, killing over 70,000 clove trees and damaging the spice farms.

Nowadays, spice farms are government owned and the crops are sold at a fixed price to the government, who mass export them abroad. Cloves are pressed into oil, used for perfumes. Much of the work on the farms is still done by hand, with young boys climbing trees to pick fruit and spices and whole villages in Pemba involved in harvesting, drying and sorting cloves.

Zanzibar Spices

Cloves
The word clove comes from the French word clou, meaning nail, which the buds resemble. best time to harvest them is when the buds are green, with the cap covering them intact. Cloves are used for pickling and can be found in Chinese Five Spice and garam masala spice mixtures. Clove oil is used in perfume, dental products, cigarettes and can act as an antiseptic.

Cardamomm
One of the three most expensive plants in the world, Zanzibar, grows green cardamom. The pods house sticky aromatic black seeds, with a sweet taste. Cardamom loses its essential oil and flavour quickly and is best used fresh. It can be used as a digestive, breath freshener or to treat stomach aches and heartburn although on Zanzibar, it’s used to flavour pilau and chai.

Cinnamonn
Indigenous to Sri Lanka, cinnamon is peeled in strips from the bark of the cinnamon tree. Fresh cinnamon has an almost lemony scent, drying releases the warmwoody scent we’re accustomed to. An ingredient in garam masala, cinnamon can be ground into a powder and used in desserts or whole to flavour pilau, curries, meat dishes and chai.

Vanillaa
Vanilla beans grow on an orchid, filled with tiny seeds with a rich fragrant scent. The beans are picked when they’re immature and still yellow and left to dry in the sun to ferment and become dark brown, moist and sticky inside. Zanzibar vanilla originally came from Madagascar and is used to flavour desserts and custards.

Saffronn
The most expensive spice in the world, saffron is hand picked from purple crocus flowers, taking 20,000 stems to make just 125g of saffron. As well as its medical properties, saffron is used to flavour rice and Indian desserts, giving foods a rich golden yellow hue. It was believed to induce sleep, act as a heart tonic, a cure for flatulence and as an aphrodisiac.

Nutmegg
Split open the apricot like fruit of a nutmeg tree and you’ll find a shiny brown nut, wrapped in a scarlet red lattice. Nutmeg only grows in equatorial regions, originating from the Moluccas and is used to flavour desserts. Taken in high quantities, it has narcotic and hallucinogenic effects. In Zanzibar, the red lace is dried and made into a tea to cure bridal shyness on a woman’s wedding night.

Ginger
Ginger thrives in warm climates, and has a sweet lemony flavour if it’s cut when fresh. As ginger ages, it becomes more fibrous and tougher to peel. It’s a base flavour for many Chinese and Indian dishes and can be used to help digestion and improve blood circulation.