Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Spice guide to Nutmeg and Mace along with all the Nutmeg and Mace containing recipes presented on this site, with 938 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the spice-based recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Nutmeg and Mace as a major flavouring.

Though treated as different spices, both nutmeg and mace come from the same source, the evergreen tree species Myristica fragrans that originate only from the Banda Islands of Eastern Indonesia (the Moluccas). This tree is a member of the Myristicaceae (generally referred to as the Nutmeg) family. There are about 100 distinct species of Myristica of which Papuan Nutmeg M argentea from New Guinea, and Bombay Nutmeg M malabarica from India are also used as spices. Nutmeg trees grow up to 20m tall and thrive in very warm, humid climates. They need year-round water, but don't like flooding. There are both distinct male and female type trees and both types are required for pollination and fruit set. The trees produce their first crop of fruit after about 7 years and reach maturity after about 20 years.

Nutmegs bear yellowish fruit with a white pulp (which is rather apricot-like) — see the image, below. This is split to reveal the seed inside. The seed itself is covered by a 'lacy' reddish covering (the arillus) and it is this arillus in dried form that yields mace. The seed within is the nutmeg. Both seed and arillus are generally sun-dried for about two months after which the arillus is removed and the seed itself is cracked, revealing the fragrant nutmeg interior.

Both nutmeg and mace have similar taste qualities, though nutmeg is slightly sweeter in taste and mace has a more delicate flavour. Mace is more expensive and tends to be used in light-coloured dishes where it imparts a bright yellow saffron-like colour. Nutmeg suits all milk-based products and is excellent grated freshly into cheese sauces. In Indian cuisine nutmeg is used almost exclusively for sweets. In European cuisine, nutmeg and mace are used especially in potato dishes and in processed meat products; they are also used in soups, sauces and baked goods. Japanese curry powders generally include nutmeg as an ingredient. Nutmeg is also a traditional ingredient in all mulled alcohols (mulled cider, mulled beer, mulled mead or mulled wine). Small quantities of grated nutmeg are also used in some Indian garam masala mixes. Freshly-grated nutmeg is often used in small quantities to lift the flavour of milk and egg-based dishes.



Nutmeg and mace are strongly aromatic with a resinous and warm flavour. Nutmeg, however, quickly loses its flavour and aroma when ground. It is therefore better to buy whole nutmegs and to grate it prior to use. The major component of the essential oil of nutmeg is composed of terpene hydrocarbons along with terpene derivatives and phenylpropanoids. Of these, it is the phenylpropanoid, myristicin that is responsible for the hallucinogenic effect of nutmeg (if consumed in very large quantities). In truth, nutmeg is only weakly hallucinogenic and large doses frequently give rise to highly-unpleasant side-effects caused by other components of nutmeg (these can include prolonged extreme nausea and long-term hyper­sensitivity to nutmeg. In addition, myristicin itself is a hepatotoxic compound and can cause severe liver damage in frequent abusers. The essential oil of mace contains the same aroma components as nutmeg, however, the level of turpenes is higher whilst the level of phenylpropanoids is greatly reduced.

In many European languages, the name of nutmeg is derived from the Latin nux muscatus (literally 'musky nut'). In English, this gave rise to the Middle English notemugge which evolved into the modern English nutmeg. Interestingly, it was only really during the 11th century that Nutmeg was first introduced to Europeans by Arab traders. In the main, it was used to flavour beers and meads and it was mistakenly thought that nutmeg originated in India. Subsequent to the crusades, nutmeg became more commonly available and from the 13th century it begins appearing in recipes, though used sparingly as a very expensive spice. Only during the 16th century did nutmeg and mace begin to make true inroads into European cookery, with the Portuguese voyages to Indonesia. By the 17th century, the Dutch East India Company had established a monopoly on nutmeg production and dictated the price.

By the mid 18th century the British had broken the Dutch East India Company's monopoly was broken and both nutmeg and mace became more common and cheaper. Mace was beloved of Georgian and Victorian cooks and chefs and appears, or so it seems, in just about every other recipe from that era. Indeed, few stews or sauces form this period do not include some quantity of mace and few sweet dishes did not have some nutmeg added.

Nutmeg is one of the great ancient spices; its mystery all the more so because no one knew its true source until the Portuguese discovery of the spice islands in 1512. The spice remained very expensive as, until the British transplanted trees to Zanzibar and Grenada during the late 1700s, the trees only grew on a few of the Spice Islands.

Today, nutmeg is most commonly used in the spice blends of North Africa, Saudi Arabia and Northern India used to flavour meat dishes. In Europe, nutmeg tends to be used more commonly for desserts and cakes (though it is often used in milk-based sauces. Interestingly, nutmeg is also gaining in popularity in the Caribbean (the British introduced nutmeg trees to Grenada, which is now a major global producer.