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Can You Guess The Spice ?

3K views 36 replies 13 participants last post by  eastshores 
#1 ·
There is a company called " Epices de Cru " , they are also known as the " Spice Hunters". On one of my visits to a spice store I was looking for a certain spice....found the product, it was sealed and nicely packaged, but when I got home and opened it up to see inside......

I found this.........can you guess the spice ? I am used to seeing this in powder form but not like this.

 
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#3 ·
And the Grand winner of "Can you guess the spice ?" is ...........drum roll please....ok thats good.....

Our very own, Mr Phatch ! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

I actually wished there were more spices to show.....thank you.

ps. the flavor is out of this world.
 
#9 ·
And the difference between the two (nutmeg and mace)?

Ah, hem. Sometimes you feel like a nut

Sometimes you don't

Sorry about that.
Taking a total uneducated stab in the dark here....Nutmeg being the shell, mace being the...ohh lordy I really don't know...refraining from Wiki and Google, although the force is strong....inside meat of the nut? Go on /img/vbsmilies/smilies/laser.gif shoot me down in flames/img/vbsmilies/smilies/lol.gif
 
#12 ·
L'audace, l'audace, toujours l'audace, Slayertpisko.

Worst thing could have happened you would have been wrong. No big thing. And, if you put a question mark after your response, you get the best of both worlds. Thus:

Mace?
 
#13 ·
Mace is the outside of the nutmeg nut. So it always said in various cookbooks. At least it is outside of the nut, but outside that there must be some sort of fruit, if the nutmeg is actually a nut.  or not? 
 
#14 ·
That's the trouble with trying to apply botany to cuisine, Siduri. It get's a little hairy sometimes.

My understanding is that nutmeg isn't really a nut. It's a fruit. So what we call the nutmeg is the dried flesh, and the skin is the mace.

Would I swear to this? Not hardly.

What I do know is that mace is the skin that gets peeled away from the kernel, and the kernel is the "nut." 
 
#15 ·
Wikipedia shows the frult flesh, then the mace, then then nutmeg.

But what are you doing with the mace Petals? I rarely see it called for and then only in books with "old" recipes. So many stores and households have no mace in the spice aisle/rack.

I mostly use it in some processed meat products from Helen Witty's books, The Good Stuff and Fancy Pantry. (Lots of overlap in those books as Fancy Pantry came out first and was then revised into The Good Stuff.)
 
#17 · (Edited)
back in my sailing days in the west indies, Grenada,one of the largest southernmost islands, was/is called the 'spice island'. their biggest export is nutmeg, and truly when you drive around, especially after it rains, the whole island just smells of that wonderful spice...gosh, i can still smell it! so the mace, which everyone now knows is the outside of the nut shell itself, is bright, bright red on the tree, and is quite a beautiful sight...it discolors as it dries....i have put it in everything from soup to nuts....curries especially...its really just the mellow little sister of the nutmeg itself, so anywhere you would use nutmeg, use mace..it will most likely outlast you if you freeze it....whatever you do, don't throw it away! you could grind it into a powder and use it that way...the 'islanders' do that...shoot, now i just want to go back!.....

joey
 
#18 ·
Yesterday I brought it over to my mother's house and she took a piece to see what it tasted like....well, her eyes lit up. It smells like nutmeg, maybe not as strong but it has a wonderful aroma. The skins are chewy, and it tastes like nutmeg but after you take it out of your mouth ( I let it rest on the tip of my tongue) all of a sudden there is a heat that starts ....not hot but a tingling sensation.

I buy mace for baking.

Yesterday I warmed up a cup of milk with a bit of honey and put a piece of mace in it ........oh my.

I will be experimenting more with this....I have some of it drying out , then I will grind it down to a fine powder.

The other spice I bought is Tellicherry. (heavens !! ) It has to be just about the most intense aromatic peppers I have ever had. My mother tried that too....when I heard "crunch" , I immediately informed my dad of the following, " Dad, in a matter of 10 seconds, her face will go cherry red, she will smile, eyes will water up and she will break out laughing ...." sure enough.

I don't know, with that pepper its like a pleasure/pain type of thing. Its just so intense the aroma when you freshly grind it.

So there you have it , two wonderful spices. There should be a thread just on pepper......
 
#19 ·
When I was a kid, mace blades were available wherever spices were sold. Now mace is generally available only in powdered form.

So, my problem has always been that most recipes that use it say something like, "3 mace blades...." Uh, huh. And just what does that translate to as powder?
 
#20 ·
I knew that spice immediately. Anyone that has done any significant work with Indian cuisine should know it. The local Indian market is also the only place I could find it around Central Florida and it is in blade form. I have read that it is best described as the "husk" of the nutmeg.
 
#21 ·
I have been cooking and using mace for many things. Indian cuisine used to be a favorite, something I studied for a number of years and I never was able to get it in this type of form, it was always in powder form.

Here in Canada it is not sold in stores (the type I posted in pic) but I saw it recently in a specialty shop. As far as the powder form goes....well even that is hard to find here unless its in a spice shop.

They said it was getting more and more popular and that is one of the reasons why I was able to get it.

ps. It is very difficult to get dark malt vinegar here....someone said its not possible to get it all ( Atwater market - specialty store).

Would anyone know where I can find this ? And if not does anyone know why the dark variety is not allowed ?
 
#23 ·
Wikipedia shows the frult flesh, then the mace, then then nutmeg.

But what are you doing with the mace Petals? I rarely see it called for and then only in books with "old" recipes. So many stores and households have no mace in the spice aisle/rack.

I mostly use it in some processed meat products from Helen Witty's books, The Good Stuff and Fancy Pantry. (Lots of overlap in those books as Fancy Pantry came out first and was then revised into The Good Stuff.)
Like Petals, I use it often in curries, but it also goes well with custard, its a bit like cinnamon when dried and ground, they make a good pairing. Gives cinnamon a bit of grunt power. I'm never without it. Its readily available here in dried form - don't understand why it wouldn't be elsewhere. Interesting.

Petals - can't help you on the dark malt vinegar. You might have to go on the net and search for a supplier or see if you can get it mailed to you....just a thought.
 
#24 ·
Hello wonderful DC,

One of the owners at the specialty store (they have the biggest collection of oils and vinegars here) at the Atwater market told me that there was a problem getting the dark one here in Canada but the light colored malt is not a problem.

Was he pulling my leg ? I don't know ? I have been giving them business for many years.

This is one of those stores where if a recipe calls for something and you don't have it and you would like to buy it even though its unusual, they have it.

Its also one of those stores that makes my heart skip.....it is like opening pandora's box.
 
#26 ·
Teamfat, Petals, KY....that's what I would have guessed....pates, some sausages, custards, french spice cakes.....possibly bbq sauce/rub, maybe in garam masalas....

Peppers, last Sat I was poking around a small Ethiopian shop and discovered funky pepper.....when you think you know alot, all of a sudden you realize there's oh so much more out there to explore. As I was leaving the store their bread delivery came....some approximately 18" in diameter, 2" thick chewy white bread with black seeds interspirsed....this bread is so close to Paul Prudhomme's (southern louisiana) mama's yeast rolls it's not funny. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/eek.gif
 
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