England v Netherlands

In the 17th century, England waged a war against the Netherlands over the humble-looking nutmeg. Nutmeg was a valuable spice at the time.

The nutmeg trade was controlled by the Dutch, who had established a nutmeg monopoly by taking possession of the small volcanic archipelago of Banda in Indonesia. At the time, the only known nutmeg trees were to be found there.

Gunung Api volcano, Banda islands, Indonesia © Alamy Stock Photo

The Peace Treaty of Breda was signed in 1667. England received New Amsterdam, then a swampy area in America, now parts of New York (today’s Manhattan), New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Conneticut. In return, the Dutch received the Banda Islands, home of the nutmeg trees.

Posh Nutmeg

Nutmeg was a highly prized spice in Europe during the Baroque era. If you were wealthy, you carried a nutmeg and a small grater in a velvet bag with you when you were invited to dinner. Fresh nutmeg was grated over dishes whose provenance you were not quite sure of, thus showing that you were wealthy.

Nutmeg not only made food more digestible, it was even believed at the time that nutmeg could help protect against the plague.

Aromatic, clarifying and calming

Fortunately, we no longer have to fight the plague. Modern man is more concerned with insomnia and too much rich food.

Foods with a high fat content are easier for the body to digest if they also contain nutmeg. That’s why most of us pick up a nutmeg grater when making delicious mashed potatoes, which only taste really good if they contain plenty of good butter, milk and a little cream.

Stomach and liver love nutmeg

The medical and pharmacological studies on nutmeg point above all to the positive effects of nutmeg on disorders and overloads of the stomach and liver.

Myristica Moschata, Watercolor Print, 19th Century © Alamy Stock Photo

Ayurvedic cuisine values nutmeg because it has a calming effect. A warm milk in the evening or a warm tea with milk has an even stronger sleep-inducing effect when fresh nutmeg is grated over it.

The quick soup in the evening

Spinach and nutmeg harmonize perfectly. If you have used the weekend to make stock, you can cook a soothing spinach soup with nutmeg in no time at all.

Heat the ghee in a pan and lightly fry the cumin seeds in it. Add the stock and spinach and cook for a few minutes. Add salt, pepper and coconut milk and season with plenty of freshly grated nutmeg.

In the evening, you can combine healthy green vegetables, do something good for your body with hot broth and indulge your palate with nutmeg.

Image credit © Alamy Stock Photo

However, nutmeg is also an excellent accompaniment to any other preparation of spinach, for example as a side dish with freshly fried fish or on its own. We recommend using freshly ground white pepper here.

Eggs and nutmeg, a successful combination

Freshly grated nutmeg is also excellent with all egg dishes, be it scrambled eggs or the royal of a quiche. Just give it a try.

Nutmeg in a cocktail

Even famous cocktails such as the Brandy Alexander, which we love very much, cannot do without nutmeg.

Always freshly grated

Nutmeg should always be grated fresh. For one thing, dried nutmeg lasts far longer than nutmeg powder. Even though nutmeg is no longer worth its weight in gold, there are still attempts to sell inferior nutmeg that has been infested with mold as a powder.

You can avoid this by only buying whole nutmegs from your trusted spice retailer. Incidentally, a small nutmeg grater also makes a great gift for friends who love to cook.

The end of the Dutch monopoly

The French botanist Pierre Poivre eventually smuggled nutmegs from the Indonesian islands to Mauritius and Réunion. The Banda Islands were again conquered by the British, who subsequently also exported nutmegs to Sri Lanka and Grenada.

To this day, Indonesia, India, Vietnam and Sri Lanka are the world’s largest exporters of nutmeg.

Fresh Nutmegs, Air Tege-Tege Village, North Maluku, Indonesia © Alamy Stock Photo

Germany is an important importing country for nutmegs, because traditional

Christmas baked goods such as gingerbread or Printen contain nutmeg. Nutmeg is also an important ingredient of many well-known spice mixtures such as raz el hanout or curry.

This puts the humble nutmeg in a completely different light and perhaps encourages us to pick up the nutmeg grater much more often and enjoy nutmegs with the knowledge of their history.

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Cover picture © GloriousMe 2024