Desserts · Plate VI

Nutmeg

Myristica fragrans

An evergreen tree from the Banda Islands, in the Moluccas, with alternate, elliptic, glossy leaves. There are male trees and female trees, and only the female ones bear fruit.

The fleshy, yellowish fruit splits in two when ripe to reveal the seed, dark and glossy, wrapped in a bright red net. One fruit gives two spices: the seed is nutmeg, and the net is mace, which turns amber as it dries.

It was so prized that the Dutch restricted its cultivation to Banda and Ambon and destroyed the trees on other islands. Its name comes from an old word meaning “musky”, after its scent, and Myristica, from Greek, refers to perfumed ointments.

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