Nutmeg

Nutmeg is the seed of the fruit of Myristica fiagrans, the tropical nutmeg tree, which originated in the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, but is today cultivated in many tropical countries, with Grenada the single largest producer. The seed is covered with a red fibrous membrane which separates it from the flesh of the fruit. When dried and flattened this becomes mace. Mace and nutmeg do smell and taste similar and are interchangeable, though mace is stronger in flavour. They both contain a volatile oil called myristicin, apparently hallucinogenic in large quantities. In the 18th century, nutmeg was so fashionable that people had their own silver nutmeg holders and graters that they would take with them when they went out to dine.