By Dr. Colin Michie of AUC Medical School
Dr. Colin Michie has worked as a paediatrician in the United Kingdom, Africa, the Caribbean and the Middle East. He is specialised in nutrition, haematology and infectious diseases. Now the Associate Academic Dean for the American University of the Caribbean Medical School in St. Maarten, his enthusiasm is training medical students and healthcare teams to ensure they deliver better value health care.
Nature’s valued treasures are often surrounded by secrets. Nutmeg is no exception. This nut full of fragrant oil is carefully protected inside a hanging or drupe fruit. A central nut or endocarp is surrounded by a colourful and spicy aril, the mace, which contains many of the compounds also found in the nut. The geographical location of nutmeg trees was withheld by traders for many centuries. Its early rarity and high cost led to a proliferation in counterfeit products, adulteration and substitutes that persist to the present. Historical accounts of carved wooden nutmegs in Connecticut gave rise to the nickname for inhabitants of that state as “Nutmeggers.” Skills in secrecy is a possible explanation of the term’s application in football, where a ‘nutmeg’ refers to passing the ball between an unexpecting defender’s legs.
If you lie on your back underneath a nutmeg tree, looking up you will see an unusual sight: the branches of these trees radiate like slim bicycle spokes from their trunks. Myristica fragrans spreads its foliage in a glorious spiral up its trunk, giving a pagoda shape and an advantage in the competitive rain forest canopy.
It is possible that nutmeg reached early Rome. It was certainly used by those living in the later Byzantine empire. There the early Christian church had many formal days of fasting, during which no meat or fish was to be eaten. The plain diet on a fast day could, however, be ‘spiced up’ with imported flavours and condiments. In the eighth century, Theodore of Studite is said to have permitted monks to add nutmeg to a pea-soup or pudding. Byzantine kitchen skills were famous: they developed marzipan, the cult of St Nicholas and gingerbread cakes. Saint Theodore has great historical relevance to St. Martiners. Firstly, as a leader in the early Christian church, he made a pioneering call for the abolition of slavery. He wrote “Thou shalt possess no slave, neither for domestic service nor for the labour of the fields, for man is made in the image of God.” Secondly, in the eastern churches, St. Theodore has the same Saint Day as St. Maarten: November 11.
When an Ottoman emperor terminated trade through Europe in the fourteenth century European explorers sought out the sources of the sumptuous ‘eastern’ spices. Nutmeg trees were identified around 1512 by Portuguese sailor Alfonse de Albuquerque in the equatorial Molucca islands, in Banda Sea, now Indonesia. Eventually, after considerable bloodshed, the Dutch came to regulate the nutmeg supply and its price from the Moluccas. In 1667 the British ceded control of Rhun, their sole Spice Island, to the Dutch in exchange for a stretch of the east coast of north America, which later became New York.
Nutmeg had other names such as Rou Dou Kou in Mandarin and Jaiphal in Hindi. Our term ‘nutmeg’ is derived from ‘nux muscatus’, ‘musky nut’ in Latin, ‘noix mugette’ in French, noix muscada in Spanish (The Dutch is ‘nootmuskaat’). As colonial botany and markets grew, nutmeg trees were replanted by several nations. Pierre Poivre and a team of French horticulturalists transplanted nutmeg and cloves to gardens in Mauritius and Reunion, later the Seychelles, the Comoroes and Zanzibar in an attempt to create a more open market. Pierre is celebrated in the nursery tongue twister as “Peter Piper who picked a peck of pickled peppers.” The British replanted nutmeg in Singapore, Ceylon and Grenada.
Botanical relatives of nutmeg trees exist, but their fruit differ from M. fragrans. In west Africa and the Caribbean, the Jamaican or calabash nutmeg grows well; it is related to the custard apple. There are plume nutmegs, clove nutmegs, Bombay nutmegs, Macassar nutmegs and a Californian nutmeg.
Handcuffed to fashion, the popularity of nutmeg has followed medical and culinary fads through history. Benedictine nun Hildegaard of Bingen recorded in the eleventh century that nux muscata was a tonic and a tasty addition to cakes. During the medieval bubonic plagues of Europe and Tudor England, nutmeg was thought to be protective; it was employed to make a vinegar together with lavender and cinnamon. Thieves reputedly bathed in this vinegar then safely plundered the corpses of the deceased. Nutmeg’s value became comparable to that of gold. The nut was noted by Chaucer to be used to improve beer; recipes for Christmas mince pies initially included nutmeg. Two centuries later Samuel Pepys was prescribed nutmeg and honey for a cold, suggesting that Caribbean supplies had made nutmeg more readily available. Inclusion of grated nutmeg in punches, egg-nogs, wassail drinks, toddies and mulled wine contributed to the manufacture of personal nutmeg graters to prepare one’s beverage. Charles Dickens had his own monogrammed nutmeg grater. There was evidently a love-affair in Victorian England with the spice: it was scattered into many recipes in the classic “Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management,” including those for puddings, pies, cakes, biscuits, sauces, stewed fruits, potted shrimp, some meat and vegetable dishes. Across the Channel Auguste Escoffier included nutmeg in one of his five famous sauces (béchamel) and signature favourites such as dauphinoise potatoes. Nutmeg had landed: it was an olfactory demonstration of success by the gourmands of novelty. The US Food and Drug Administration recently classified nutmeg and mace as ‘Generally Recognised as Safe.’ So, whether you make black cake, sorrel or nihari, this festive season, you will be joining a strong tradition!
Since medieval times nutmeg has been thought to be a powerful good-luck charm or talisman. A nut has been recommended as a benison at the start of a New Year, an object to be taken to a job interview, or perhaps to influence a session of gambling in the guachafita or casino.
Historically nutmeg and mace were recommended for gastric disorders. Nutmeg contains oleoresins, oils and lignans. Analysis of just the oleoresins yields over 53 compounds, including sabinine, myristicin, eugenol and elemicin, limonene and pinenes. The sabinine component has been found to be antibacterial and may be useful in the management of multi drug-resistant Salmonella. Lignans have been found to have a range of effects in laboratory assays or in animal models, as an insecticide, antioxidant and smooth muscle relaxant as well as providing liver protection. This might explain its value in gastrointestinal illnesses. These lignans are of special interest to modern pharmacologists too, because they show insulin-like activity, promote blood thinning and can kill tumour cells in culture too. The relevance of these properties to those of us cooking with nutmeg and mace is not known and there have been no clinical trials.
Myristicin blocks cholinergic nerve receptors, causing anxiety, hallucinations and palpitations: these effects require ingestion of more than 5g of nutmeg. Nutmeg abuse became part of a US prison culture, described by Malcom X and romanticised by the saxophonist Charlie Parker. As a topical oil, nutmeg can be used for toothache: it has some anti-fungal effects and has been employed in toothpaste and mouthwashes. It is used in some traditions as a topical liniment for musculoskeletal pains. Nutmeg’s activity as an aphrodisiac has been discussed by many, but there is no clinical evidence to support this claim. Any increased spicy libidinal energy is contradicted too by the recommendation that nutmeg can be used to promote sleep.
One final layer of nutmeg secrecy cannot be confirmed. A strong suspicion based on analysis is that nutmeg is an ingredient of Coca Cola. The recipe for this beverage has been carefully protected for over a century, but it is possible that the exotic nut has contributed to a global beverage. This festive season consider using the exotic nutmeg in your kitchen, on a chic craft cocktail, or lie back to admire the tree: this rich spice seems to have many more benefits than we know.
