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Clausen's hjemmeside |
Zanzibar, - spice tours | |
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Zanzibar's blend of troubled history and relaxing peacefulness can be experienced outside, as well as inside, the Stone Town. So-called Spice Tours introduce the visitor to the fascinating world of Zanzibar's spice-growing areas, and are usually combined with a mobile history lesson. Spice tours can be arranged through your hotel or a tourist information centre, but shop around and agree on an itinerary and fee before setting out. Tourists will catch interesting glimpses of life among the villages, with their little mud-and-wattle houses roofed with palm thatch or corrugated iron. And on the roads they might see Indian-style ox-carts or Zanzibar's unique country buses which , with their wooden coachwork, glass-less windows and slatted seats, look more like early 19th-century railway carriages, and are just about as comfortable. During the second half of the l9th Century the islands of Zanzibar produced more than 90% of the world's supply of cloves. The power and wealth of Zanzibar was based largely on this trade. Today, agricultural diversification is encouraged but Zanzibar is still a major exporter of cloves and clove products, with revenue earned amounting to between 50% and 75% of the total value of all exports. Cloves are the buds of a tree which, when dried, produce a pleasant taste and smell. Their name comes from the French word `clou' meaning nail, which the buds resemble. Clove oil was originally a highly prized ingredient used in cooking and preserving. Today it is also important in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. Cloves were introduced to Zanzibar in the early l9th Century from the French colonies of Seychelles and Ile de France (now Mauritius). Sultan Said (sultan from 1804 to 1856) recognised their value and encouraged the setting up of plantations on Zanzibar and Pemba. Today, many of the plantations remain. About 75% of the islands' total produce comes from Pemba as growing conditions there are superior to those on Zanzibar Island. Clove trees (their scientific name is Eugenia aromatica or Eugena caryophyllata) grow to a height of around 10 to 15 metres and can produce crops for over 50 years. In the first eight years of growth the buds are not picked, and turn into colourful pink flowers. When a tree reaches maturity the buds are picked by hand before they open (normally the harvest period is between July and January, with a break during the November rainy season), then separated from their stems. Buds and stems are dried in the sun on palm-leaf mats or on a special stone platform called a sakufu. Cloves are green when picked but turn brown during the drying process. The stems are sent to Zanzibar Town where they are processed into oil in the distillery near the port. This oil is used mainly as a flavouring device in foods such as cakes, pickles, cooked meats and ready-made mixes. It is also used in some antiseptic solutions, such as mouth- washes and in mild pain-killers for tooth-ache. Its other major use is in cosmetics, where it gives a sweet-spicy note to many different kinds of perfumes. The best quality dried buds are kept separate and used whole in cooking, pickling or the making of spiced wines and liqueurs.These buds are also distilled into a high-grade oil for use in particularly fine perfumes. In the cosmetic industry the oil from good Zanzibar clove buds is reckoned to be the best in the world. Coconuts are the second-most important crop on Zanzibar after cloves. They grow on a certain species of palm tree which is generally planted where clove trees cannnot survive, although as diversification is encouraged it is not uncommon today to see coconut palms and clove trees on the same plantation: Coconuts are picked throughout the year. The pickers skilfully climb up the palm trunks using only a short loop of rope, then drop the nuts to the ground. The outer husks of the coconuts are removed by striking them onto a sharp stick or metal bar fixed in the ground. This is also a skilful process. Then the coconuts are split in two and left to dry so that the white fleshy kernels can be removed from the shells. The kernels are then dried for a few more days in the sun or in a special kiln. Groups of workers separating the husks and kernels, and small coconut kilns, can be seen in the plantation areas outside Zanzibar Town. When the kernels are properly dried, the substance is called `copra'. It is widely used in the food industry as a flavouring, or for decoration. Copra is also processed into an oil, which is used in some foods and in the production of soap, candles and hair-oils. In the days before aerosol foam, copra was particularly good for making shaving soap as it helped produce a good lather. The coconut husks are not wasted: they are buried under sand on the beach for several months, which helps to soften the fibres and make them separate from the rest of the husk. They are periodically dug up, beaten on rocks to help this process, and then buried again for another few months. The fibre is called `coir', and is used for mats and rope-making, these ropes are then used for making boats and ocean-going dhows!. In the areas outside Zanzibar Town you will often see local women working with coir in this way. Large quantities of coconuts are also consumed locally as food. The clove is still king on Zanzibar, but with declining markets there has been some pressure to diversity, and people taking the Spice Tour might be shown nutmeg, black pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, chilli, vanilla, peppermint and the sharply citrus-fragrant lemon grass. Also charming the senses are an array of exotic fruits - plantations and bananas, mangos, pawpaws, breadfruit, jackfruit, avocados,guavas, mulberries, durians, litchis, pomegranates, oranges, grapefruit, and limes
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