Nutmeg Graters

A nutmeg’s two usable parts are an outer husk called “mace,” which is used in powdered form in baking and cannot be grated, and the inner kernel, the nutmeg, which when dry is hard and easily grated into food or drink. The simplest nutmeg grater is nonmechanical. One type used in Europe and in the early days of America was a portable or pocket-size cylinder with a grating surface and a storage compartment for the nutmeg. Also simple was the nineteenth-century tin coffin-like grater with hinged compartment and curved grating surface. This is the only type still made.