Generality
Mace is a food of plant origin belonging to the branch of spices. It is used in small doses and its function is mainly aromatic.
Other Myristica plants produce different components used both for their aroma and for some medicinal properties.
Description
The plant from which the mace is obtained is an evergreen tree. It is native to Indonesia, in the Moluccas Islands, and to the Philippines; it is cultivated in exclusively tropical climates and the propagation of the plant occurs essentially by cuttings, in order to better manage and distribute the sexes. The best quality mace comes from the Banda Islands, Java, Sumatra, Celebes, Penang, Singapore, the West Indies, Zanzibar and the Maurizius Islands.
Nutritional values (per 100 g of edible portion)
The mace tree often reaches 10m in height, but specimens reaching 20m have been identified. The plant is ALL aromatic, with a reddish-gray courting and smooth or cracked according to age. The leaves are alternate, oval, elongated and pointed. The male flowers are in pedicel clusters, while the female ones are organized in small buds.
Of the M. fragrans Whole fruits (drupes) are NOT consumed. The exocarp and the mesocarp (the peel and the pulp), after drying, are discarded, while the aril and the seed (mace and nutmeg) are further deprived of water and marketed as spices.
NOTE: the aril is an external part of the seed that grows together with it and is usually fleshy and colored (in the image at the beginning of the article, the mace is the bright red part that covers the seed).
Fresh mace (unlike the husk of hazelnuts and almonds) is NOT green and leathery, but crimson red, fleshy, translucent and with a greasy sheen; the old and badly preserved one becomes brown and opaque. By cutting the pulp, a pleasant, aromatic oil with a spicy-acrid taste must come out. Dehydrated mace is stiff, brittle and yellow-orange in color.
Chemical composition
The active principle of mace, responsible for the typical intense and pleasant aroma, is an essential oil (5-8% of the total weight). This is divided into two types, different in quality; the drug NOT chosen is said Separaat, while the waste takes the name of Gruis. The essential oil of mace is obtained by distillation of the envelope (aril).
Other components of mace are: fatty oil (20-35%), pigments, minerals (1.5-3.0%), water (10%), nitrogenous substances (6%), non-nitrogenous active substances (47%) and cellulose (4 %).
The original mace can be replaced by other Myristica arils, such as M. argentea and the M. mala barica (sometimes used for the food sophistication of the original mace).
The essential oil of mace, like that of nutmeg, is used for the flavoring of foods, drinks and perfumes. From a medicinal point of view, it is instead used as an eupeptic (i.e. it stimulates digestion).
Any comments on the nutritional composition of mace leave the time they find as, thanks to its strength, very little quantities are used.
The flavor of mace is more delicate and "elegant" than that of nutmeg, and its gastronomic value is greater. In addition to embellishing different sauces and entering the composition of mixes for spices, such as curry, fresh mace can be grated directly on dishes. It goes well with dishes of light and luminous color due to the orange tones it gives, a bit like saffron.
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