Bhakshanam

I had no clue until I discovered that Mace and nutmeg are two faces of a same coin. Not real variation in terms of aroma of both the spices though.

The spice trees are grown abundant in Kannur, although all spices are not predominantly used in their cuisines unlike north Indian dishes. Still people use some of the important spices in required quantities.

My father in law has special likings for the spices and medicinal plants as he often needs it for home remedies for which he is very popular in and around his place.  When we bought a plot to make a house in kannur , the plot had Nutmeg tree and which still stays there.  My FIL takes special care of it.  He says if it is not used for anything else at least it can give fresh medicinal air to breath. Similarly there is huge tree of cinnamon in our grandma’s house.

The basic appearance of the spice is very artistic.  The fruit resembles guava and spice lies inside when the fruit is cut into half.  As seen the seed part is the nutmeg and the red covering is the mace, which dried and made into spice. The complete one hand reliable information source on Nutmeg is available in Wikipedia or click here

There plenty of recipes and uses of nutmeg and mace available all over the Internet. I have never tried unless using the spice in little quantities in some of my recipes.  I also remember using it for my little baby from day three since he is born for almost 8 months.   My mother certainly not sure of the purpose of usage among babies but has been doing it since decades by her fore mothers.  The only reason she could reason out was it’s used in infants to avoid cold and cough and induce resistance for the same.