See also: Article about Nutmeg

NUTMEG TRIVIA & FACTS

Nutmeg is one of the oldest spices, and along with pepper and cloves, it has been cultivated for over 1,000 years.

Nutmeg and Mace


The nutmeg tree is native to the Moluccas also known as the Spice Islands of Indonesia.  For hundreds of years the Dutch East India Company kept the location and cultivation of the trees a strictly guarded secret.  Nutmeg is now widely cultivated throughout southern Asia, the West Indies (especially Grenada) and Brazil.  The Dutch still use more nutmeg than anyone else.

Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans) is unique among spice plants, producing two distinct spices.  The seed is dried, shelled and sold either whole or ground as the spice Nutmeg.  The outer fleshy network is also dried and ground producing the spice know as Mace.

Connecticut is known as "The Nutmeg State" owing to the tradition that slick Yankee peddlers would sell whittled wooden "nutmegs" to unsuspecting housewives.
 

 

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