Nutrition Facts of Mace Spice
The dried outer aril of mace spice tightly encircles the nutmeg kernel. Indeed, the nutmeg fruit yields two distinct spice products: nutmeg kernels and mace arils. Spice-mace, on the other hand, has a more subtle but potent scent than nutmeg and is known for having a greater concentration of certain essential oils. It demands a premium price and a particular spot in the kitchen spice cabinet for the same reasons!
Additional than Myristica species, numerous additional nutmeg species are farmed worldwide, including M. argentea, M. malabarica (Indian), and M. fatua. They resemble M. fragrans somewhat in appearance, but their taste and perfume are not as good.
According to botany, nutmeg fruit resembles an apricot drupe. When fully mature, it rips apart at the basal end to show a single, hard, oval-shaped seed (kernel) in the center that is commercially referred to as “nutmeg spice.” Mace spice is the scarlet, lacy, or thread-like arils that cling tightly to this nutmeg kernel. Next, using a knife or your hands, delicately peel out the nutmeg kernel from this mace aril. After that, it is left to dry for three to four days in the shade.
After drying, the now-amber-colored mace arils are sorted and processed before being sent to market.
Mace spice processing
Nutmeg fruits may be produced by M. fragrant tree up to three times throughout a season. The outer pulp, or husk, of the tree is removed and thrown away once it has been collected. The golden-brown aril, referred to as “mace,” lies just under the hard shell and tightly envelops the nutmeg kernel. Mace is either marketed as whole “mace blades” or finely processed into powder after being carefully scraped from the kernel surface, flattened into strips, and dried. After that, the nutmeg kernels are sun-dried for a few days to a few weeks. This procedure is completed rather fast over a hot drier machine in bigger commercial setups, until the whole nutmeg rattles within the shell.
Advantages of mace spice for health
- Javitri is mostly used as an aromatic; it greatly improves the color, flavor, and taste of cuisine. In addition, it has some of the antioxidant components, essential oils, minerals, and vitamins that are good for your health.
- The nutritional profile of mace is very different from that of nutmeg. It contains higher quantities of essential oils, vitamin A, vitamin C, carotenes, iron, and calcium but less calories.
- The spice contains several essential volatile oils, including myristicin, elemicin, eugenol, and safrole, as well as fixed oil trimyristin, which contributes to its sweet, fragrant taste. Compared to nutmeg, mace has larger amounts of these oils. Pinene, camphene, di-pentene, cineole, linalool, sabinene, safrole, and terpeneol are the other less significant volatile oils.
- The active ingredients in mace spice have a wide range of medicinal uses in traditional medicine, including antifungal, aphrodisiac, digestive, and carminative properties.
- Compared to nutmeg, mace has higher vitamin C. Mace spice has 21 mg per 100 g, whereas nutmegs only contain 3 mg. Similarly, mace blades have a higher riboflavin (B-2) content.
- Mace arils are very good providers of vitamin A. About nine times more vitamin A (800 IU) may be found in 100 g of mace than in nutmeg.
- More calcium, copper, iron, and magnesium are found in mace arils than in nutmeg. Compared to merely 3.04 mg of nutmeg, 100 g of mace powder has 13.90 mg of iron. Co-factors for the antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase include manganese and copper. Iron functions as a co-factor for the enzyme cytochrome oxidases and is necessary for the synthesis of red blood cells.
Applications in medicine
Similar to nutmeg, ancient Chinese and Indian remedies have used mace extract to treat disorders of the neurological and digestive systems. It has been discovered that the chemicals myristicin and elemicin, which are contained in this spice, have both calming and stimulating effects on the brain.
- Eugenol, found in nutmeg and mace oil, has been used in dentistry to treat toothaches.
- Additionally, the oil is used locally to relieve joint and muscle rheumatism.
- A freshly made mace-decoction combined with honey has been used to treat indigestion, gastritis, and nausea.
Choosing and preserving
The full mace, straight slivers known as mace blades, or powdered powder stored in airtight containers are all available for purchase in shops. Seek for whole mace or its blades rather than powder, since the evaporation of essential oils causes powdered mace to lose taste very fast. The second reason is because it may often be combined with mace species of lower grade.
After arriving home, put the blades and the whole mace spice in an airtight container and keep them somewhere cold, dry, and dark so they may last for many months. On the other hand, ground mace has to be used right away and kept in tightly sealed bags.
