one of the two spices obtained from the nutmeg tree, Myristica fragrans; the other is mace. The tree is native to the Moluccas in Indonesia, and is also cultivated in Grenada in the W. Indies. The fruit which encloses the mace and nutmeg is itself edible; see nutmeg fruit.
There is no record of nutmeg being known in classical Greece or Rome, but it had reached Constantinople by the 9th century ad, when St Theodore the Studite allowed the monks who lived by his Rule to sprinkle it on their pease pudding on non-meat days. By the 12th century it and mace were well known in Europe. When the Portuguese reached the Moluccas in 1514 they were able to acquire a monopoly in the trade, which they held for almost a century.
At the beginning of the 17th century the Dutch wrested control from them and laid the foundation of the Dutch E. Indian empire in the Bandanese island of Nehra, part of the Moluccas. They maintained their monopoly for over 150 years, but in 1770 a French expedition returned to Mauritius with nutmeg seedlings, and the first French nutmeg was picked eight years later. The British, who occupied the Moluccas from 1796 to 1802, planted nutmegs in Penang and thereafter in other British possessions with seemingly suitable conditions, but it was not until the 1860s that cultivation of nutmegs in Grenada, which turned out to be the most suitable place for them, became significant.
The trees thrive in tropical conditions near the sea, and seem to prefer volcanic soils, as in the Moluccas and Grenada. They start to bear fruit between 10 and 15 years of age, and continue to do so for another 30 or 40. The nutmeg tree may be either male or female, and in the plantations one male tree is needed to ensure pollination of about a dozen females. Nutmeg is the brown kernel of the nutlike seed contained in the fruit borne by the female trees.
In processing, the sheath or aril surrounding the seed is first removed (to become mace). Then the seed, which has a hard shell and is usually referred to as a nut, is dried. After drying the kernel will usually rattle in the shell. The nuts are then cracked and the kernels extracted to be sorted into sound nutmegs and unsatisfactory ones. They are soft brown in colour and speckled like an egg.
The chemistry of nutmeg is interesting. Myristicin is one of the substances responsible for the ‘warm’ taste and special flavour of nutmeg. It has a narcotic effect, not noticeable in the small quantities used by cooks; but consumption of a large amount could produce a ‘high’. (See also nutmeg fruit.)
The chemistry of nutmeg is such that aroma and flavour disappear quickly once a nutmeg is grated. Hence the profusion of nutmeg graters, intended to be used immediately before the need arises. These graters are often made, felicitously, in the form of a mace.
Usage varies quite widely from one country to another. In Britain, for example, nutmeg is used for a number of milk dishes (rice puddings, egg custards, etc.) and in some cakes and beverages. In the Netherlands and Scandinavia it is also used, much more freely than in Britain, for vegetable dishes, including mashed potato and spinach; and may also turn up with pineapple and some seafood items. In France and Italy it may appear in a béchamel sauce, depending on the end use of the sauce.
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
