NUTMEG, the commercial name of a spice representing the kernel of the seed of Myristica fragrans, a dioecious evergreen tree, about 5o to 6o ft. high, found wild in the Molucca islands and extending to New Guinea. Nutmeg and mace are mostly obtained from the Molucca islands, although the cultivation has been attempted with varying success in Singapore, Penang, Bengal, Reunion, Brazil, French Guiana and the West Indies. The trees yield fruit in eight years after sowing the seed, reach their prime in 25 years, and bear for 6o years or longer. Almost the whole surface of the Molucca islands is planted with nutmeg trees, which thrive under the shade of the lofty Canarium commune. The ripe fruit is about 2 in. in diameter, of a rounded pear-shape, and when mature splits into two, exposing a crimson arillus sur rounding a single seed. When the fruit is collected the pericarp is first removed; then the arillus is carefully stripped off and dried, in which state it forms the mace of commerce. The seed consists of a thin, hard shell, enclosing a wrinkled kernel, which, when dried, is the nutmeg.
To prepare the nutmegs for use, the seed enclosing the kernel is dried at a gentle heat in a drying-house over a smouldering fire, the seeds being turned every second or third day. When
thoroughly dried the shells are broken and the nutmegs picked out and sorted, the smaller and inferior ones being reserved for the expression of the fixed oil which they contain, and which forms the so-called oil of mace.
"Oil of mace," or nutmeg butter, is a solid fatty substance of a reddish-brown colour, obtained by grinding the refuse nutmegs to a fine powder, steaming it and then compressing it while still warm. The brownish fluid which flows out being afterwards allowed to solidify. Nutmegs yield about one-fourth of their weight of this substance. It is partly dissolved by cold alcohol, the remainder being soluble in ether. The latter portion, about of the weight of the nutmegs, consists chiefly of myristin, which is a compound of myristic acid, C14H2802, with glycerin.
The name nutmeg is also applied to other fruits or seeds in different countries. The Jamaica or calabash nutmeg is derived from Monodora Myristica, the Brazilian from Cryptocarya moscizata, the Peruvian from Lamella sempervirens, the Mada gascar or clove nutmeg from Agathophyllum aromaticum, and the Californian or stinking nutmeg from Torreya californica.