This is our third in a new series called “Chef’s Spice Blog 2014”. (Think William Shattner. We go where no chef has gone before). lol
We featured salt and pepper. Last time? Turmeric. As we approach the holidays, I think the most under rated spice and one I use quite often is Nutmeg.
Now if you’ve ever purchased Pumpkin Pie Spice? One of the key ingredients in that is nutmeg. You have two ways to go: You can buy powdered or you can buy the seeds and use a very small hole shredder to give you something fresher but similar. I go for the seed or ‘nut’!
REALLY CHEF?
Yes. Really! I will say that nutmeg is a spice (if you do it right) that people taste in food and don’t know, can’t quite put their finger on what that great flavor is. When I say ‘if you do it right’, less is more.
I’ve been reading this book “The Complete Book of Herbs, Spices and Condiments” by Carol Ann Rinzler. And she says it has been used as a flavoring for tobacco and toothpaste.
INTERESTING CHEF!
Yes. I thought so too. This same evergreen is “native to Indonesia and now cultivated in the West Indies. It produces two spices – mace and nutmeg. The oil from nutmegs contains safrole, the principal flavoring agent in sassafras”.
Well, I’ll be darned! Holy Sassafras! lol
WHAT ELSE DID YOU FIND OUT CHEF?
Safrole is also found in black pepper too.
It increases the stomach acids. So if you are on a bland diet? Steer clear of nutmeg!
Two to three teaspoons in a dish of your choice, is what is recommended. I personally go less. I use it combined with cinnamon during the holidays. So that’s a sweet potato pie, any thick creamy soup I make (using coconut creamer instead of cream, of course), and seriously potatoes, tomatoes, and anything that ends in toes can surely use a touch of nutmeg. Experiment! Creamed spinach…. Ham….I even use it in my Mac N Cheese!
Shoot! Now that secret is out of the bag! lol
And yes! It is that somethin’ somethin’ that no one can quite put there finger on.
Hey! Maybe I should have called this “Put Your Finger on Nutmeg”! ha!
Happy Eating,
Chef Marian