Nutmeg and Mace
Learn about the history and pharmacology of these precious spices. You'll look at your pumpkin spice latte in a whole new light after reading this!
Greetings from Charleston, West Virginia! I’m writing to you today from my hotel room with a view of some gorgeous fall foliage. In the distance, rolling forested hills sparkle in a rainbow of orange, gold, and fading green. I’m here for the conference of the American Council on Medicinally Active Plants. I was deeply honored to give the opening keynote lecture to the meeting at West Virginia State University last night, where I presented on my research group’s work on antimicrobial medicinal plants.
Fall hasn’t quite hit my home in Georgia in full force, so seeing the changing of the leaves here is something really special for me. Thoughts of fall make me dream of apple pie and pumpkin spice lattes. So, today I decided to share the tale of this special plant: Myristica fragrans, the nutmeg tree. Nutmeg’s story is an extraordinary one.
Its location on Earth was once a highly guarded secret. Greed for the acquisition and trade of this plant led to the massacre and subjugation of the islanders who cultivated it. Nutmegs were so valued that, at their trade's peak, they were worth their weight in gold! In American prisons, inmates discovered the hallucinogenic properties of the spice when taken in very high—dangerously toxic—doses. Today, many of us have either the whole nutmeg or its ground powder in our kitchen cabinets, tucked away behind the jars of rosemary and black pepper. We often sip lattes containing this precious commodity without realizing its historic importance. After reading this, you’ll look at this spice in a whole new light.
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