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nutmeg-mace-msg - 10/11/09

 

History and information on the spices nutmeg and mace.

 

NOTE: See also the files: spices-msg, poppyseeds-msg, spice-mixes-msg, vanilla-msg, gums-resins-msg, Cinnamon-Vari-art, ginger-msg, spice-storage-msg, merch-spices-msg.

 

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NOTICE -

 

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

 

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

 

I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.

 

The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors.

 

Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s).

 

Thank you,

    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous

                                          Stefan at florilegium.org

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From: una at bregeuf.stonemarche.org (9/5/95)

To: markh at sphinx

RE>Cubeb

 

markh  at sphinx.sps.mot.com (Mark.S Harris) writes:

> Greetings unto Honour,

>

> I have had this problem myself. The only galingale I could find was

> whole, not ground.

>

> Where would I find a netmeg grater? Is that the name I would ask for?

> Is this like a cheese grater but heavier duty?

>

> What's a quern?

>

>   Stefan li Rous

 

        Respected friend:

        (You have my permission to archive this with the rest of the thread)

        Nutmeg graters are tiny, very fine-toothed graters sold in upscale

cooking shops and some health-food stores. They're sold under that name.

They're made out of tougher steel than the big graters; nutmeg is too hard

for even some pro chef grade electric spice grinders.

        A Quern is a small, hand-operated stone gristmill for grinding

grain into flour. Mine came from Samap, in France.

                       You're welcome- Honour/Una/Alizaunde

 

 

Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 04:55:11 -0500

From: gunnora  at bga.com (Gunnora Hallakarva)

To: sca-arts  at raven.cc.ukans.edu

Subject: Nutmeg Hallucination

 

Heilsa, All!

 

        Just as a note about the hallucinogenic properties of nutmeg, one

Yuletide I was making packets of mulling spices for Twelfth Night gifts.

One of the ingredients I used was nutmeg.  I had whole fresh nutmegs, which

I was cracking and pulverizing somewhat in a pestle. After about an hour, I

noticed that I was slightly intoxicated and felt unconnected with my body.

Seems the dust from the crunched-up nutmegs that I was inhaling caused the

effect.  Now if I do much nutmeg processing, I wear a dust mask.

 

Wassail,

Gunnora Hallakarva

Herskerinde

 

 

Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 20:52:52 -0400 (EDT)

From: Uduido  at aol.com

To: sca-arts  at raven.cc.ukans.edu

Subject: Re: The spice mace and where it is.

 

<< I have a number of recipies in my book that add the spice Mace to

>many dishes.  I have had no luck in finding it in a local store and when

>I ask, they haven't heard of it. >>

 

Mace is the web-like covering on a nutmeg which is removed and processed

seperately from the nutmeg. There is really no "substitute" for it. Every

major grocery chain that I have been in carries it.

 

Lord Ras

 

 

Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 08:05:26 -0600 (MDT)

From: Mary Morman <memorman  at oldcolo.com>

Subject: Re: SC - Nutmegs, ground

 

> memorman  at oldcolo.com writes:

> >  it's easy to buy whole nutmegs and grind them yourself -

> >  any kitchen store will sell you a nutmet grater - and the flavor is well

> >  worth the effort.

>

> And pray, where would I find whole nutmegs?

> Mordonna DuBois

 

you find whole nutmegs in the spice section of any grocery store.  I know

McCormick sells them.  Just check to see if you are getting whole or

ground.  the whole ones often come in the little narrow cans rather than

the glass jars - but you might find them both places.

 

elaina

 

 

Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1998 14:44:31 -0400

From: James Gilly / Alasdair mac Iain <alasdair.maciain at snet.net>

Subject: Re: SC - Nutmegs, ground

 

At 08:05 5-10-98 -0600, Elaina wrote:

>you find whole nutmegs in the spice section of any grocery store.  I know

>McCormick sells them.  Just check to see if you are getting whole or

>ground.  the whole ones often come in the little narrow cans rather than

>the glass jars - but you might find them both places.

 

I'll agree that any supermarket should have them on the spice shelves -

both McCormick's and Spice Islands brands - but my experience has been that

whole nutmegs are always in glass jars, while ground nutmeg may be in

either jars or tins.

 

Alasdair mac Iain

 

 

Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2000 23:45:09 -0400

From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy  at asan.com>

Subject: Re: SC - Cippits

 

> Also, one of the recipes calls for "3 leaves of mace"  I've never seen a

> leave of mace- any guess how much this is?

 

Mace is a sort of bran layer that comes wrapped around the nutmeg

kernel. The standard modern term (and one which appears in some

late-period recipes) is a blade of mace. 3 of them would appear to grind

up to about a level teaspoon of ground mace. Now I just have to figure

out what to do with it ;  ) .

 

Adamantius

 

 

From: jenne  at fiedlerfamily.net

Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2001 12:24:36 -0400 (EDT)

To: <sca-cooks  at ansteorra.org>

Subject: [Sca-cooks] Nutmeg grater?

 

The first mention of a nutmeg grater in the OED is from 1695, though

graters are mentioned earlier. Does anyone know when grating, rather than

pounding, of nutmeg may have come into fashion?

 

-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa

 

 

From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker  at worldnet.att.net>

To: <sca-cooks  at ansteorra.org>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Artichoke Pie

Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2001 20:17:35 -0600

 

>The recipe says "a little Mace Whole". What is meant by "Whole" in

>this? It's probably not the whole nut since the outside is nutmeg

>and the inside is mace, right? Is "whole" just being ignored in

>this redaction?

 

Nutmeg is the seed.  Mace is a covering that wraps the nutmeg.  Both are

inside of a pod or fruit.  Blade or whole mace are the inner covering

removed from the nutmeg and dried.  I used ground mace because I had no

blade mace.

 

Bear

 

 

From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker  at worldnet.att.net>

To: <sca-cooks  at ansteorra.org>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Artichoke Pie

Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2001 22:44:24 -0600

 

Mace doesn't completely wrap the nutmeg.  There are holes through it.  It

looks something like an octopus wrapped around a large shellfish with some

of the shell showing.  By seperating the place where the legs join, you can

remove the mace almost intact, although I gather it is easier still if you

split the mace.  Whole mace is mace that has been removed from the nutmeg

and dried in large pieces as opposed to being crushed or gorund.

 

Bear

 

>Other way around. Nutmeg is the whole nut, mace is the papery part that

>covers it inside the actual shell. Lots more nutmeg than mace. I have no

>idea how you would have a whole mace, and you wouldn't want a whole nutmeg,

>they're dangerous in that amount, unless you are serving a huge crowd.

>(Back to the Herbal discussion... I know we though we'd escaped that, but

>here we are!)

>

>Perhaps all the mace of a whole nutmeg?

>

>Anne

 

 

Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 23:58:31 -0700 (PDT)

From: Huette von Ahrens <ahrenshav  at yahoo.com>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Chocolate Drink for Gunther

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks  at ansteorra.org>

 

--- Avraham haRofeh of Sudentur <goldbergr1  at cox.net> wrote:

> I know nutmeg grows in the Carribean, but I

> don't know if it grew there in period, or was brought over later.

>

> Avraham

 

Nutmeg is native to the Molluccas.  It's earliest

mention in Europe was in Constantinople during

the 9th century, when St. Theodore the Studite

allowed his monks to sprinkle it on their pease

porridge on non-meat days.  It was brought to the

West Indies late in period.

 

It is allspice that is the only spice whose

production is totally New World.

 

Huette

 

 

Date: Sun, 19 Dec 2004 18:46:02 -0500

From: ranvaig at columbus.rr.com

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Mace and Must Substitute

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

 

> --- ranvaig at columbus.rr.com wrote:

>> http://www.shamanshop.net/store/images/MyristicaFragrans7.jpg

>>  Here is a good picture of it... the red stuff i the mace

>

> Yep.  That is a good picture of Mace, and one I have not seen

> before.  I was not aware that the

> fresh membrane was red.  Interesting.  Thanks for the link.

>

> By the way...does anyone know if the outer fruit is edible/palatable??

>

> illiam de Grandfort

 

http://www-ang.kfunigraz.ac.at/~katzer/engl/generic_frame.html?Myri_fra.html

The pulp of the nutmeg fruit is tough, almost woody, and very sour.

In Indonesia, it is used to make a delicious jam with pleasant nutmeg

aroma (selei buahpala). Other uses of the pulp are not known to me.

 

There are also several, even better pictures of nutmeg fruit and mace.

Ranvaig

 

 

Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2004 16:03:44 -0500

From: Jadwiga Zajaczkowa / Jenne Heise <jenne at fiedlerfamily.net>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Mace and Must Substitute

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

 

> By the way...does anyone know if the outer fruit is edible/palatable??

 

I bought, last year, some syrup made from the nutmeg fruit. It tastes

pretty much like generic pancake syrup, though.

--

-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net

 

 

Date: Sun, 10 Sep 2006 21:11:36 -0500

From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net>

Subject: [Sca-cooks] Moluccan Spices was Re:  It's DUCKS ;-)

To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

 

Nutmeg (Myristica fragans) is native to the Banda Islands, a group of five

islands in the eastern Moluccas.  Related nutmegs, M. argentea and M.

malabarica are native to New Guinea and Southern India respectively, but

they are not of the quality of M. fragans and are used as adulterants in

commercial ground nutmeg.  During the second half of the 16th Century, the

English controlled much of the nutmeg trade, but lost control of the islands

in the mid-17th Century to the Dutch.  The  English expanded cultivation of

nutmegs to India and Grenada after seizing the largest of the Banda Islands

early in the 19th Century.

 

Clove trees are native to the North Moluccas and at the time of the Dutch

colonization were grown commercially on Ternate, Tidore, Bacan and  

western Halmahera.

 

Bear

 

 

Date: Sat, 02 Aug 2008 08:23:15 -0700

From: "Laura C. Minnick" <lcm at jeffnet.org>

Subject: [Sca-cooks] [Fwd: Re:  [Fwd: Nutmeg in stale ale]]]

To: SCA-Cooks <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

 

More questions!  -'Lainie

 

-------- Original Message --------

       

<snip>

 

Is there evidence that anyone in the Middle Ages expected the nutmeg to

have hallucinogenic properties?  There is at least one Google site that

suggests that if you can bear to eat enough of it you may start to see

little pink men from Mars, or  the like.  I don't advise the testing

thereof -- a poor druggie self-centered enough to describe his

experiment on the internet found it tasted so horrible that he was

obliged to mask it with so many other substances that it's hard to know

what caused his mild disorientation during his excruciatingly boring day

diarized in detail while his mother had left him alone.

 

Brian

 

 

Date: Sat, 02 Aug 2008 12:34:56 -0400

From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius1 at verizon.net>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] [Fwd: Re:  [Fwd: Nutmeg in stale ale]]]

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

 

<<< Is there evidence that anyone in the Middle Ages expected the nutmeg  

to have hallucinogenic properties? >>>

 

I don't think that's a period concept; I believe that's a discovery  

made in the 20th-century American prison system, and one highly  

disputed, at that, but everyone seems to agree that it takes a large  

amount of nutmeg to have any effect.

 

Adamantius

 

 

Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2008 10:44:00 -0600

From: Georgia Foster <jo_foster81 at hotmail.com>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] [Fwd: Re:  [Fwd: Nutmeg in stale ale]]]

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

 

<<< Is there evidence that anyone in the Middle Ages expected the nutmeg  to have hallucinogenic properties? >>>

 

The first reference I can find from this is "The Alchemist's Cookbook".  Yes ... I have a copy.  It was a gift from the mother of an acquaintance when her son passed away suddenly, and she had no idea what it was ... only that I have a collection of weird books.  She thought it must be one he had borrowed from me.  I didn't tell her that it was not mine, was most likely something he bought on his own.  She would not have believed me anyway.

 

Malkin

Otherhill

Artemisia

 

 

Date: Sat, 02 Aug 2008 15:20:55 -0400

From: Gretchen Beck <grm at andrew.cmu.edu>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] [Fwd: Nutmeg in stale ale]

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

 

--On Saturday, August 02, 2008 1:43 PM -0500 Terry Decker

<t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net> wrote:

 

>> I suspect the nutmeg is being added to the ale to give it some bite.  The

>> traditional ales I've encountered tend to be a little on the sweet side.

 

I think it's also being added to balance the humors of the ale (of course,

in medieval cooking, I'm always amazed how taste and humors often follow

each other:-)). Here's some lines:

 

from Robert Greene (contemporary of Marlowe and Shakespeare), Looking Glass

for London and England:

 

"...I am a Philosopher that can dispute of the nature of Ale; for marke you

sir, a pot of Ale consists of foure parts, Imprimus the Ale, the Toast, the

Ginger, and the Nutmeg...The ale is a restorative, bread is a binder, mark

you sir, two excellent points in physic: the ginger, O, ware of that! the

philosophers have written of the nature of ginger, 'tis expulsitive in two

degrees; you shall hear the sentence of Galen:

   "It will make a man belch, cough, and fart,

    And is a great comfort to the heart,"

a proper posy, I promise you; but now to the noble virtue of the nutmet; it

is, saith one ballad (I think an English Roman was the author) an

underlayer to the brains, for when the ale gives a buffet to the head, O

the nutmet! that keeps him for an while in temper..."

 

The ditty "The Nut-Brown Ale" by John Marston (1575-1634) more or less

repeats this (or perhaps vice versa, or perhaps both just make fun of

conventional wisdom)

 

The nut-brown ale, the nut-broen ale

Puts down all drink when it is stale!

The toast, the nutmeg, and the ginger

Will make a sighing man a singer.

Ale gives a buffet in the head,

But ginger under-props the brain;

When ale would strike a strong man dead

Then nutmeg tempers it again.

The nut-brown ale, the nut-brown ale,

Puts down all drink when it is stale!

 

toodles, margaret

 

 

Date: Mon, 2 Mar 2009 21:44:54 -0500

From: ranvaig at columbus.rr.com

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] a 'Fat Tuesday' Greek meal ... OOP and LONG

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

 

< Baklava - 32 ounces of fine-chopped walnuts mixed with 8 Tbs of cinnamon and 4 Tbs nutmeg. >

 

<< Ranvig said 'seems like an awful lot of spices'>>

 

did to me too, and the house mate pointed out that out as well, but I looked ... and that was what it said ... so that is what I used.  I half expected it to be cinnamon-hot ... but it wasn't.

 

The recipe is an OLD one however .... and amount could be due in part to the reduced potency of stored spices.  I will admit that I used the old stored bulk cinnamon for this one...........

---------------------

 

I was more concerned with the amount of Nutmeg.   No one person will eat two whole pans of baklava and nutmeg is considered safe for ordinary culinary uses, but the toxic dose for nutmeg is 4 Tablespoons, and less than one tablespoon can make you ill.  Most Nutmeg poisoning is caused by abuse and accidental poisoning is considered unlikely, but it happens:

 

http://www.nowpublic.com/health/3-surprising-foods-can-sometimes-be-poisonous-plus-2-tips-stay-safe

<<< Four people fell ill, experiencing severe headaches and dizziness after eating an apple cake that was made from a recipe published in the August 2008 issue of the Swedish food magazine, Matmagasinet... "There was a mistake in a recipe for apple cake. Instead of calling for two pinches of nutmeg it said 20 nutmeg nuts were needed. In small amounts, nutmeg is a safe, commonly used ingredient in cooking and baking. However, in large doses, it can cause dizziness, hallucinations, a decrease in body temperature, seizures, and in extreme cases, death. >>>

 

Nutmeg poisoning is even period:

http://forums.rusmedserv.com/archive/index.php/t-10149.html

<<< There are records of nutmeg abuse dating from the 12th century.

 

The first case of nutmeg poisoning was described in 1576 by L?bel who reported the ingestion of 10-12 nutmegs (approx. 70-84 g) by a pregnant English lady ... >>>

 

Ranvaig

 

 

Date: Tue, 3 Mar 2009 15:36:58 +0000 (GMT)

From: emilio szabo <emilio_szabo at yahoo.it>

Subject: [Sca-cooks] Nutmeg poisoning

To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org

 

<<< Nutmeg poisoning is even period:

http://forums.rusmedserv.com/archive/index.php/t-10149.html

There are records of nutmeg abuse dating from the 12th century.

 

The first case of nutmeg poisoning was described in 1576 by L?bel who reported the ingestion of 10-12 nutmegs (approx. 70-84 g) by a pregnant English lady ... >>>

 

That would be Mathieu de Lobel, the passage is on page 641, in the last two lines:

http://imgbase-scd-ulp.u-strasbg.fr/displayimage.php?album=975&;pos=645

 

"Noui generosam Anglam vtero gerentem vapida aromaticitate decem vel duodecim nucum myristicarum auid? comestarum cerebri ventriculi imbutis, ebriam esse redditam".

 

I knew a noble Englishwoman

who, while pregnant, became "drunken",

because the small holes of her brain became filled with spice exhalation

of ten or twelve nutmegs eaten in a gready manner.

 

The sentence before the passage says:

 

"Immaturum stupefacere & inebriare dictitant"

 

It is often said to make dazed and "drunken" when it is unripe.

 

(I am not sure if I got that right.)

 

E.

 

<the end>



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