nutmeg-mace-msg - 3/4/11

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.

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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.


Date: Sun, 1 Nov 2009 12:35:10 -0800
From: lilinah at earthlink.net
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Candying Nutmegs: Was Break the Pot

On Nov 1, 2009, at 2:05 AM, otsisto wrote:
<<< The nutmeg has fruit surrounding the nut and the Indonisians candy it.
Could the fruit be what the recipe is calling to be candied?
Fruit, mace and nut
http://tinyurl.com/ygudxrd  >>>

Given how difficult it would be to get fresh fruit from the Banda 
Islands to Europe before the fruit rotted, i kinda doubt they're 
talking about the fruit.

I get the impression - based on academic study of the history of 
Indonesia and living there, and not on any scholarly research into 
the nutmeg trade - that since for so long nutmegs went to Europe and 
didn't stay in Indonesia (neither nutmeg nor mace features in 
Indonesian cuisine very much), well, all they had left was the fruit. 
And since they were growing so much sugar there and actually had 
access to some of that, i suspect Indonesians ended up preserving the 
fruit.

There the fruit is made into jam, or sliced and candied. It isn't 
hard to find, but it isn't commonly used either.

Gernot Katzer remarks, "The pulp of the nutmeg fruit is tough, almost 
woody, and very sour," while the text at wikipedia notes that it is 
easily bruised.

Here's another photo of the fruit around the mace around the shell 
around the nutmeg (yes, under the mace there's a shell around the 
nutmeg):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nutmeg_Zanz41.JPG
-- 
Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
the persona formerly known as Anahita


Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:36:52 -0400
From: Sam Wallace <guillaumedep at gmail.com>
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Graters?

"I would be interested to discover what they used in period to grate
nutmegs...it would be extremely difficult to reduce a nutmeg to powder
using a mortar and pestle."

Actually, I have tried this as part of a project where I made a
variety of spice mixes. I pounded cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, rose
petals, and many other spices with them. My kids took turns doing the
same (they wanted a chance to play with the mortars and pestles). It
really was not that difficult even with the relatively small mortars
that I use. I doubt someone working with a larger mortar would have
much trouble at all.

Guillaume


Date: Sat, 17 Jul 2010 05:09:39 -0700 (PDT)
From: Louise Smithson <helewyse at yahoo.com>
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Graters?

"I would be interested to discover what they used in period to grate
nutmegs...it would be extremely difficult to reduce a nutmeg to powder
using a mortar and pestle."

Scappi has a picture of a nutmeg grater.  The link below should link directly to 
the page in question.  If not it is one of the image pages with a large cauldron 
at the top being lifted with a lever.

Instrumento per levar ogni gran caldaro dal fuoco - instrument for lifting any 
large cauldron from the fire. 
Sperone da pasticiciero - pastry spur (pastry wheel)
coltel da pasticier - pastry knife
rasciatore da banco - table scraper
armiiola da raschiare - ?weapon? for scraping
grata noci moschiate - nutmeg grater
grata zuccaro - sugar grater
setacci doppio per speciare et zuccaro - double hair sieve for spices and sugar. 

http://books.google.com/books?uid=8425862161387762158&hl=en&q=scappi

Helewyse


Date: Sat, 17 Jul 2010 12:03:30 -0400
From: "Terri Morgan" <online2much at cox.net>
To: "'Cooks within the SCA'" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Graters?

Here's a different link:
http://alfama.sim.ucm.es/dioscorides/consulta_libro.asp?ref=X533351951&idiom
a=1
Enter image# 918 (just the number) in the little
"go to" window just above the center of the page,
and click the arrow button to the right of it.
Brighid ni Chiarain
=======================

Well, THAT's a lot easier than my solution... I whipped out my cell phone
and took a picture of the web-page, and then emailed it to myself. Clumsy,
but it worked.

Thank you, to everyone who went looking for examples. It does seem, after
looking at what has been posted here and available via "Google", that the
hollow tube style is (basically) timeless. That's good to know. And I like
the little container that holds the grater and then can hold the grated
spice for sprinkling. An elegant arrangement.

Hrothny


Date: Sat, 17 Jul 2010 09:56:43 -0700 (PDT)
From: emilio szabo <emilio_szabo at yahoo.it>
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Google and BSB / direct link to grater image

Some of Google's books can also be seen in the library collections from which 
they stem.

E.g., here is Scappi from the BSB collection:

http://www.mdz-nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn=urn:nbn:de:bvb:12-bsb10165033-0

The direct link to the image with the grater is here:

http://www.bsb-muenchen-digital.de/~web/web1016/bsb10165033/images/index.html?digID=bsb10165033&pimage=00949&v=100&nav=0&l=de

The BSB collection offers four editions of Scappi, those of 1570, 1605, 1610 and 
1622.

https://opacplus.bsb-muenchen.de/InfoGuideClient/start.do?Login=opacext&Language=%20de&BaseURL=https%3a%2f%2fopacplus.bsb-muenchen.de%2fInfoGuideClient%2fstart.do%3fLogin%3dopacext%26Language%3d%20de&Query=-1=%2212-bsb*%3b%20scappi%22

E.


Date: Sun, 18 Jul 2010 22:40:46 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] books on graters

Willem Kalf (1619-1693) has a nutmeg grater in a painting called Still  
life with Rechaud and Glass Decanter. It's in Peter G. Rose's The  
Sensible Cook.
The Dutch were interested in nutmeg and spices long before they  
controlled the trade. Something drove them to the Far East.

Johnnae


Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2011 13:51:46 -0500
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Nutmeg, Mace, and Other Parts of the Plant

On Feb 7, 2011, at 1:02 PM, Sam Wallace wrote:
<<< In the thread about Bratwurst recipes, one of the recipes Johnnae gave
included "half-crushed nutmeg flowers." I wonder was this a euphemism
for mace or if it really was the (dried) flowers, partially crushed
and then added to the mix. Likewise, I found a recipe which called for
nutmeg leaves and am aware of the fruit being used in preserves, but
have been able to get any of these. Does anyone have a good source of
these nutmeg plant products?

Guillaume >>>

This was in the 1616  Koge Bog translation. I suspect that it might  
have been mace by that time.
The original is Danish so it may be a translation problem too.

I don't recall ever coming across nutmeg flowers and given that nutmeg  
was coming from Indonesia and Banda islands near there in that period,  
I can't see how they transported  or would have cared to bring flowers  
back.

http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/Myri_fra.html says--

"Some Euro pean languages name mace flower of nutmeg (German Muskat  
bl?te, Swedish muskot blomma, Czech mu?k?tov? kv?t or French fleur  
de muscade). Although this is botanically incorrect, the mace was  
supposed to be the flower of the nutmeg tree during the Middle Ages;  
even Marco Polo propagated this error in the 14th century."

Johnnae


Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2011 11:32:22 -0800 (PST)
From: Dan Schneider <schneiderdan at ymail.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Nutmeg, Mace, and Other Parts of the Plant

Yup,  it's mace. The original has "muskateblommor", which is close to the same as today ("muskatblomme" is the singular in Danish, I *think* the plural would be "blommor"). Nutmeg in modern Danish is "muskatn?d".

Dan

--- On Mon, 2/7/11, Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com> wrote:
<<< This was in the 1616? Koge Bog
translation. I suspect that it might have been mace by that time.
The original is Danish so it may be a translation problem too. >>>

<the end>
Edited by Mark S. Harris	nutmeg-mace-msg	13 of 13