Nutmeg and Mace

The spices nutmeg and mace come from the same tree, which is a tropical evergreen native to the Molucca Islands of Indonesia. Nutmeg is ground from the seed of the tree, and the red-colored seed covering produces mace.

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Nutmeg has a pungent fragrance and a warm, slightly sweet taste. Mace has a similar fragrance and a warm taste. Though rare, nutmeg in very large amounts can act as a hallucinogen and cause poisoning. Both spices were used in the early modern period to flavor a variety of dishes. Mace was also particularly common in medicinal preparations. Elizabeth Dyke uses the spices very frequently, often together, in meats, seafood, potages, and drinks.

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These spices, especially nutmeg, became especially valuable during the European colonial spice trade, and the Dutch East India Company maintained a strict monopoly on them. Dutch traders kept prices artificially high by preventing English or French traders from obtaining it. Although tree saplings were eventually smuggled into the British West Indies for colonial cultivation, mace and nutmeg remained highly prized and expensive spices.

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Sources: British History Online, Encyclopedia Britannica: Nutmeg, Encyclopedia Britannica: Mace

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