Standing amid the popular mango and jackfruit trees in my home is an old nutmeg tree. I have watched the tree bud, flower, and the fruit slowly transform from light green to bright yellow.
Nutmeg fruits
The ripe fruits crack open revealing a little of the dark seed and the red mace covering it. The fruit is then plucked to harvest the seed and mace. The mace has to be pulled out carefully so that it retains its flower shape. The mace and seed are then either sun dried, or in a nutmeg mace dryer, before being sold in the local market.
Last time I went home, my mother handed me a glass of fresh juice. The taste was both familiar and distinct but it was quite hard to make out what fruit it was made of. Nutmeg fruit, laughed my mother. She had got the recipe from the internet. I had always thought the fruit was useless. After browsing through a few cookery blogs and talking to a couple of people, I learnt that the fruits can also be made into jam, wine and pickle. I shared these recipes with my mother and she tried those too. My grandmother told me she used to eat the fruit with a pinch of salt and chilli. So much from the dear old tree.
Nutmeg Jam
My lunch of bread with nutmeg jam at office was received by my colleagues with surprise. “Nutmeg jam! I thought that was a spice”. So it was not just me, others too were ignorant about this wonderful fruit. The jam is a break away from the usual with its new flavour. It goes well with bread and can even be used as a topping on cereal.
The juice, my mom told me, is made of nutmeg fruit concentrate with lemon and ginger juice added. It is then blended with sugar, ice cubes and water to get the frothy refreshing drink. The wine made with the fruit is white in colour. The fruits are boiled before fermenting so as to make them soft and tender. The wine locks within it a slight fruity flavour of nutmeg that is strong and lingering.
Wine
Ingredients
Nutmeg fruits 1 kg
Sugar 1 kg
Whole wheat 2 teaspoons
Yeast 1 teaspoon
Procedure
1) Wash and dry the fruits well before putting them into a washed glass jar.
2) Add sugar, yeast and wheat into the jar
3) Add boiled and cool water till the fruits are submerged
4) Close the jar so that it is air tight
5) Stir the contents with a wooden spoon daily for 21-40 days (more the number of days, stronger will be the wine)
6) Strain and transfer the content into another glass bottle.
Juice
Ingredients
Nutmeg fruit 15
Water 1 litre
Sugar ¾ kg
Lemon 2
Ginger juice 3 tbsps
Procedure
1) Peel and cook the fruits in pressure cooker in ½ litre of water for 2 whistles.
2) Bring to room temperature. Pulp in a mixer grinder.
3) Dissolve ¾ kg sugar in ½ litre water.
4) Mix the pulp with the sugar syrup, lemon juice and ginger juice.
5) Bottle and refrigerate
6) Add 2 tbsps of the concentrate, ice cubes and water and blend. (Add sugar if you need to).
