**MACE, MYRISTICA FRAGRANS, JAVITRI, FULI, SEKAR PALA, KEMBANG PALA, WASA-VASI, DAUK CHAND, DOK CHAN**

Herbs & Spices for Thai Cooking. "Welcome to Chiangmai & chiangrai p. 73. [incomplete reference of Thai spices and herbs]

Excerpts from MACE (DORG JUNN) is the orange outer covering of nutmeg. Mace is used in making Musaman curry paste. Plant is native to Indonesia.

Southern Living Progressive Farmer. 1978?. The desserts Cookbook. Favorite Recipes Press, Copyright MCMLXXI.

MACE is a spice closely related to nutmeg. It is usually ground and is especially good in pastry. Its nutlike flavor is an excellent complement to cherry and chocolate desserts.

Excerpted from American Spice Trade Association. 1966. A glossary of Spices. American Spice Trade Association. 76 Beaver Street, New York, NY 10005

Myristica fragrans Houtt.
Nutmegs couldn't have been known in Europe much before 600 A.D., say spice historians. The shiny evergreen tree with the peach-like fruit which gives us both Nutmeg and Mace grew thousands of miles to the east, in the Moluccas.

Not even those intrepid spice-traders, the Arabs, were able to make their way to these distant tropical islands. Not, at any rate, until Mohammed's time, for this prophet combined the teaching of Islam with the trade in spices and this double incentive sent Arabs farther and farther afield.

Nutmegs and Mace must necessarily be harvested at the same time. The Nutmeg is the pit or seed of the Nutmeg fruit. There is a thin, dark shell around the Nutmeg and then surrounding this is a brilliantly red lacy network, or aril, the Mace. Obviously, the Nutmeg is much heavier than the fragile layer of Mace, 10 to 400 times heavier, depending on the fruit.

The aroma of Nutmeg is sweeter, more delicate than Mace. Ground Mace tends to an orange color, as compared to the tan hue of Nutmeg.

Mace is more apt to be found int he ground form, since the whole "blades" of Mace are not easily used in cooking.

Nutmeg is available both whole and ground. Many cooks still like to grate the Whole Nutmegs for fresh flavor. Both are used in flavoring baked goods, puddings, sauces, vegetables and beverages. They are also used in spice blends and in processed meats. Try Nutmeg in chicken soup, butters for corn-on-the-cob or spinach, candied sweetpotatoes and, of course, the popular eggnog. Mace is especially favored in pound cake, cherry pie, fish sauces - whereever its lighter color is an asset.

Our main sources of Nutmeg and Mace are Indonesia and the West Indies (Grenada).

Excerpts from Passmore, Jacki. 1991. The Encyclopedia of Asian Food and Cooking. Hearst Books, New York.

This aromatic spice is the net-like aril that encases the large oval-shaped spice, nutmeg. Crimson in its fresh state, mace turns ocher-red in color as it dries. It has a delicate, sweet flavor, similar to, but milder than, nutmeg and it is more expensive. The whole ground mace is sometimes used iin cooking, particularly in Indian rice dishes with other whole spices such as cinnamon, cloves and cardamon. Mace is used medicinally and is used in pickles and curry spices as well as in sweet dishes and pastries. Also known as javitri (India); fruli (unground mace), sekar pala (Indonesia); kembang pala (Malaysia);. wasa-vasi (Sri Lanka); dauk chand, dok chan (Thailand).

This resource is much more than a dictionary or encyclopedia. If you wish to know more about cuisines and associated recipes from individual countries, this would be an excellent resource.

Ruth Winter.1978. A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives. Crown Publishers, Inc., New York.

Obtained by steam distillation from the ripe dried seed of the nutmeg. Colorless to pale yellow, with the taste and odor of nutmeg. Used in bitters, meat, spice flavorings for beverages, ice cream, ices, baked goods, condiments, and meats (2,000 ppm). The oil is used in chocolate, cocoa, coconut, cola, fruit, nut, spice, and ginger ale flavorings for beverages, ice cream, ices, candy, baked goods, chewing gum, condiments, and meats. The oleoresin is used in sausage and spice flavorings for baked goods, condiments, meats, and pickles.

Garrett, Theodore Francis (edited by). 1898. the Encyclopedia of Practical Cookery. L. Upcott Gill, 170, Strand, W.C. London. Vol. II

is the spice called aril, which covers the nutmeg. It is very aromatic, and forms, either whole or ground, an excellent basis for other and more delicate flavorings. The expressed oil of mace is used to form an essence, and the essence is used to make a mace-flavoring, but it is generally agreed amongst cooks that no preparation is equal to the real thing.

Simon, Andre L. 1952. A Concise Encyclopaedia of Gastronomy. Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York.

Lat. Myristica fragrans; Fr. Macis. The husk of nutmeg, used for flavoring, when ground finely.

Grimes, William. 2004. Eating Your Worlds. Oxford University Press.

is the reddish fleshy outer covering of the nutmeg, dried and ground as a spice. -
ORIGIN Middle English macis (taken as plural), via Old French from Latin macir.

Igoe, Robert S. 1983. Dictionary of Food Ingredients. Van Nostrand and Reinhold Company.

is a spice which is the aril or skin covering of the nutmeg Myristica fragrans Houtt. and is more pungent in flavor than nutmeg. The whole mace is used in cooked fruit, pickles, and preserves while the ground mace is used in breads, cakes, chocolate pudding, and fruit salad.

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