Nutmeg & Mace

Nutmeg & mace are two distinctly different spices produced from a fruit of an evergreen tree usually 9-12 meter high. Mace is the dried reticulated ‘aril’ of the fruit and nutmeg is the dried seed kernel of the fruit. The trees are normally unisexual, bearing either male or female flowers. The male flowers are born in clusters, whereas female flowers are often solitary. The fruit is a fleshy drupe, spherical in shape, pale yellow in color with a longitudinal groove in the center.