Nutmeg & Mace

Nutmeg completes a custard tart as it cuts through sweetness with its musky spiciness, transforming cloying to elegance. Mace, the aril from the same plant, has a similar flavour profile but with less astringency.

A dichotomy: nutmeg is both potent yet fleeting. Grind it early and the flavour is gone. The kernels should always be stored whole and grated towards the end of cooking to harness the intensity that is there - before it isn’t.