Middle Eastern traders brought Nutmeg and mace to Southern Europe in the sixth century, and they were well-known by the twelfth century from Italy to Denmark. The Portuguese found Nutmeg trees in the Molucca Islands, and dominated the Nutmeg and mace trade until the Dutch overcame it in 1602.
How was nutmeg transported?
Storage / transport
Nutmegs are packed in boxes and double-layered jute bags. The favourable travel temperature range is 5 – 25°C. At temperatures >25°C, essential oils may be lost. The stowage space should be cool, dry and, most particularly, easy to ventilate.
Where did nutmeg spread to?
Native of Indonesia (Moluccas Islands), the nutmeg tree grows there abundantly and is now naturalized in West Indies, Sri Lanka, India, Philippines, Tropical America, and Pacific Islands.
Why was nutmeg so popular?
Nutmeg gained a lot of popularity in the late 1500s as a treatment for plague, and became even trendier among European elites once they discovered its hallucinogenic properties (which are still a thing, according to The Atlantic). Also, spices were vanishingly rare back then, adding to the illusion of product scarcity.
What is the history of nutmeg?
Historically, grated nutmeg was used as a sachet, and the Romans used it as incense. Around 1600 it became important as an expensive commercial spice in the Western world and was the subject of Dutch plots to keep prices high and of English and French counterplots to obtain fertile seeds for transplantation.
What did the Dutch do to get nutmeg?
The Dutch established a monopoly on the spice trade from the Moluccas . They gained control over the clove trade through an alliance with the sultan of Ternate in the Moluccas in 1607. Dutch occupation of the Bandas from 1609 to 1623 gave them control of the nutmeg trade.
Why does nutmeg smell so good?
Eugenol, though found in smaller quantities in nutmeg, is one of the major volatile components of the seed and is used for making vanillin and also as a substitute for cloves (next week’s smell!) in perfume-making.
What does nutmeg do for a man?
Some animal studies show that nutmeg may enhance sex drive and performance. In one study, male rats that were given high doses of nutmeg extract (227 mg per pound or 500 mg per kg of body weight) experienced significant increases in sexual activity and sexual performance time compared to a control group ( 13 ).
Who invented nutmeg in football?
(3) None other than Jimmy Hill claimed the term was first used in the 1940s and was simply based on the cockney rhyming slang for leg – “he played the ball through his nutmegs”.
How did nutmeg get to Europe?
During the Spice Trade, also in the sixth century, nutmeg was brought by Arab merchants to Constantinople. They kept the origins secret and quantities low in order to raise prices. As with most expensive foreign goods, the elite became obsessed, and the spice became even more popular in Europe.
Was nutmeg a cure for the plague?
Nutmeg’s value wasn’t just culinary; it was believed to have medicinal properties, including as protection against the bubonic plague that periodically wiped out large chunks of the population.
Why was nutmeg so expensive in 17th century?
Thought to have the power to cure everything from the plague to flatulence to the common cold, nutmeg was “the most coveted luxury in seventeenth-century Europe, a spice held to have such medicinal properties that men would risk their lives to acquire it.”‘
How did nutmeg get its name?
Etymology. An early use of the term is in the novel A bad lot by Brian Glanville (1977). According to Alex Leith’s book Over the Moon, Brian – The Language of Football, “nuts refers to the testicles of the player through whose legs the ball has been passed and nutmeg is just a development from this“.
Is nutmeg a fruit or nut?
1 It’s not a nut. Nutmeg is the seed kernel inside a yellow fruit of the nutmeg tree, an evergreen native to the Molucca Islands (sometimes called the Spice Islands) of Indonesia.
Which country produces the most nutmeg?
Indonesia
Indonesia is the largest world producer of nutmeg and mace and accounts for three-quarters of world production and export. Grenada is the second largest producer and exporter.
Can you eat nutmeg fruit?
Nutmeg is the rarest of spices. Its woody balls are the stones or pips of fruits that plump from the nutmeg tree, the beautifully named Myristica fragrans. You can eat the fruit, too, if you’re lucky enough to get it: in Sulawesi they sugar it, then dry it in the sun so it partially ferments.
Who controlled the nutmeg trade?
In the 17th Century the Netherlands took control of the Banda Islands, successfully gaining monopoly of the spice trade.
Did Manhattan sell nutmeg?
Manhattan, in what is now modern-day New York, was a swampy piece of land when the Dutch swapped it with the British 350 years ago for a tiny island in Indonesia. Run island was prized as the home of nutmeg – a spice worth more than gold at the time.
Which island is known for nutmeg?
Grenada
Grenada, that island in the sun – the spicy one known and loved for its wide variety of spices like nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, and more.
Is it healthy to eat nutmeg?
Nutmeg is a rich source of antioxidants, which help protect against the signs of aging and serious conditions such as cancer, heart disease, and liver disease. Nutmeg oil is used in several dental products.
Does nutmeg make you sleepy?
The largest group of people who were unintentionally exposed to nutmeg intoxication were minors under the age of 13. The most common symptoms in the 10-year review included: hallucinations. drowsiness.