Spices

Tiny Tuesday: Mace


I had a little nut tree,
Nothing would it bear
But a silver nutmeg
And a golden pear;

The King of Spain's daughter
Came to visit me,
And all for the sake
Of my little nut tree.

Her dress was made of crimson,
Jet black was her hair,
She asked me for my nutmeg
And my golden pear.

I said, "So fair a princess
Never did I see,
I'll give you all the fruit
From my little nut tree."

Mace is one of the spices derived from Myristica Fragrans, the other is nutmeg.  Mace comes from the seed covering, whilst nutmeg is the seed itself.   I understand that in low doses this spice has no noticeable physiological or neurological effects, but according to Wikipedia in large doses it does have psychoactive effects and for this reason is banned in Saudi Arabia.  I use mace in my balti curry mix but can reassure you that I only ever use small amounts.

This one was a bit of an emergency blip I am afraid.  There was no time to take a photo at lunchtime and this evening Cathy and I had to spend a bit of time sorting out some paperwork. So I found myself searching around for something for Tiny Tuesday at 9pm this evening.  Fortunately the spice cupboard came to my aid on this occasion.