Manisan Pala

The candied flesh of the nutmeg fruit. The whole fruit is about the size and shape of an apricot, in colour more green than yellow. The fruit must be fully ripe if the mace and nutmeg are to be ready for the market. Considering how expensive nutmeg and mace are in the West, and how keen Indonesia is to export them, I am astonished to find a recipe for manisan pala in an Indonesian-language cookery book published in Jakarta in 1957. It starts: ‘Peel the fruit very thinly, then carefully cut it in half, and throw away the hard stone inside’ (that is, the nutmeg and mace – my italics). Thereafter, proceed as follows. Soak the fruit halves in plenty of salted water for 2 hours. (This recipe is for about half a kilo/1–1½ lb of the flesh.) Drain, and cut each half into ribbons, but do not cut all the way: leave the skin intact at one end, so that the flesh can be spread into fan shapes. Then dilute 2 teaspoonfuls of limewater in a bowl of water, and soak the fruit in it overnight. The next day, drain the fruit in a colander, and rinse well under a cold tap. Discard the limewater. Boil 1.5 kg/3 lb 4 oz/6½ cups of granulated sugar in 1.1 litres/2 pints/5 cups of water. Stir to dissolve. Put in the fruit and bring the sugar syrup back to boil. When boiled, turn the heat off. Leave the fruit in the sugar syrup overnight. The next day take them out with a wire scoop and drain them in a colander. Heat the sugar syrup to a boiling point and put the fruit back in. Bring back to boil, then take them off the heat, and leave to get cold. Repeat this process twice more. On the last time, drain the fruit after the sugar syrup comes back to the boil. Spread more sugar on a tray, and spread the drained fruit on the sugar, coating them well with the sugar. Now spread them on a mat and dry in the sun for a few hours. Stored in an airtight container, the manisan pala will stay good for several months. This process is also good for making manisan jahé, crystallized ginger, from fresh ginger.