I’ve been enjoying some Townsend & Son videos on YouTube, i highly recommend them to anyone.
I can’t help but notice the huge number of recipes, nearly every one he does in fact, calls for nutmeg.
Why was nutmeg so popular back in colonial America? Was it a cheap import, or does it actually grow plentiful in the US? Googling the spice seems to suggest it comes from tropical areas.
It stores (and thus travels) well, and a little goes a long way.
Also,
[Moderating]
Moving to Cafe Society.
It stores (and thus travels) well, and a little goes a long way.
Also,
[Moderating]
Moving to Cafe Society.
No, it does not grow in America. Nutmeg was rare and pricey. It originated on a single of the Banda Islands. It was the sole British possession in those parts. They later swapped the island to the Dutch for Manhattan.
I agree, I quite enjoy Townsends. With that being said, nutmeg would have been almost unheard of for most colonials. The fact that he uses it heavily in his videos shouldn’t indicate that it was cheap and common enough for most people to use on a daily basis.
I do enjoy the flavor of it. I wonder why it’s never used as the main spice in anything - Nutmeg Snaps, maybe?
Connecticut is nicknamed the “Nutmeg State.”
Our poodle Belle was born in Hartford, and her kennel name is “Yankee Nutmeg Bells at Midnight.” (She’s black)
I hate the taste of nutmeg and leave it out of anything I cook that calls for it. Cloves, also.
Eggnog.
Barbados rum punch.
Lots of Italian dishes, e.g. tortellini.
This article estimates a whole nutmeg cost the equivalent of one hour’s wage for a common laborer. Expensive? Sure. But since a whole nutmeg is typically enough for several batches of most recipes that call for it, I don’t think it was beyond the reach of even ordinary people in colonial times.
And people were warned against buying counterfeit wooden nutmegs.
“Several batches”? With as little nutmeg as is needed for it to dominate a dish, a nutmeg could probably last for a year.
Oh, and as for nutmeg being the main spice in things, don’t forget about the now-omnipresent “Pumpkin Spice”.
Since 1843 nutmeg trees have been grown on the island of Grenada. Shortly afterwards a crop disaster hit Indonesia allowing Grenada to establish itself as a major player. I’m just guessing but, due to the distances involved, Grenadian nutmeg was probably an attractive import for American spice merchants. This article has a nice potted history. It mentions the way the Grenadians use every part of the fruit including making jam or jelly from the pulp. I’ve tried some and even though I’m not fond of the taste of nutmeg it was pretty good with a more delicate flavour than the spice.
I think the nutmeg thing in the Townsends is a personal preference thing much like Chef John from foodwishes.com (another highly recommend) puts Cayenne in everything. You make the video, you make the rules.
Nutmeg is indispensable when making a sugar cream pie (State Pie of Indiana).
I don’t have a particularly good cite for this, but I’m sure I have read or seen that nutmeg was the Rolls Royce of spices, and so it you could afford to you put it in dishes for guests just to show off how damn wealthy you were.
If it then subsequently appears in more commonplace dishes (the food of the people, if you will) because of easier access, then I guess that’s just a case of trickle-down ostentation. It was ever so.
j
If you knew, as I did, what the subject of this thread was before opening it . . . you watch too much YouTube.
CMC fnord!
Nutmeg snaps do exist. But, yes, it is often used as an “accent” spice or in combination with other “Christmas” spices like cinnamon, ginger, cloves, etc. For me, it’s also indispensable in a bechamel. You don’t need a lot, but a little nutmeg to perk it up. I love nutmeg. I also find it, or its outer shell – mace, to be indispensable in making a number of sausages, including hot dogs, and my bratwurst is a mix of caraway seed, marjoram, mace (or nutmeg), and white pepper.
Plus if you use enough, it gets you high.
Yeah, “white” lasagna is flat without a little nutmeg.
This being the Dope, I’ll go all pedantic here: The Dutch didn’t really trade Manhattan for Nutmeg.
Nutmeg was cultivated, at the time of the treaty of Breda, on the Banda Islands - not just on Run. (at one point Run May have been the single source, but that was well before this)
Run was the one Banda island the English gave up - the rest were already firmly subject to Dutch exploitation, murder and arguably genocide. The English also gave up parts of Surinam, meaning effectively all of Surinam.
The Dutch gave up New Netherland, which while it included Manhattan and other parts of NY, also included chunks of New Jersey, Connecticut, RI, Delaware and even bits of Pennsylvania.
So it wasn’t a trade of Manhattan for Nutmeg, or not per-sé.
Further, it wasn’t a trade of “you-pick-this, I-pick-that” at all in fact, as the Treaty of Breda was effectively “you keep what you hold” as of 5/20/1667.
Since the colonials in parts of North America went their own way a little over 100 years later, some argue that the Dutch came out ahead in this treaty. While they did, that isn’t why. The Dutch came out ahead by the simple fact that they were relieved of New Jersey. Bullet dodged, there.
It’s very normal in Italy to use nutmeg wherever dairy is involved, particularly besciamella sauce (which is nothing but béchamel, Italianized).
As part of my adventures in global fusion cuisine, I invented a sort of garam masala using only the spices normally used in Italy. Because Italian cuisine is almost entirely about the herbs rather than spices, and I wondered what if I just did Italian spices. I combined black pepper, hot red pepper, nutmeg, fennel, and celery seed (and maybe a little sesame), toasted. Called it “Itālvī masālā” (Itālvī being Hindi for Italian). I decided it was just the thing to “give your old pasta fazool a kick.” Only a pinch or two is enough.