Affected cloves are amber and translucent with sticky, soft, jellylike tissue. Initially affected cloves have small, slightly sunken, light yellow areas. Symptoms can be obscured by the dry outer scale until shrinkage of the clove and the eventual dark amber color become visible through the scale.
This is not a disease but rather a physiological condition associated with high temperatures during growth, especially near harvest or afterwards. Poor ventilation and low oxygen levels during storage may also cause waxy breakdown to occur.
