Nutmeg
MYRISTICA FRAGRANS
MYRISTICACEAE
This small botanical family includes some genera and 380 species of trees
tropical forests, especially in the Indo-Malayan region, South-east Asia and Papua New Guinea.
These are trees with evergreen foliage, aromatic and with a sap colored pink or red. The nutmeg comes from the eastern Moluccas islands in Indonesia (Banda, Amboina).
Nutmeg was already known to the Greeks and Romans, the Arabs assured its trade to Europe mediaeval, carefully concealing its geographical origin, as the Portuguese and then the Dutchman who tried to keep the monopoly of the harvest . Only in the early 19 th century that were developed for industrial plantations in Malaysia, Sumatra, Grenada and the islands of the Indian Ocean.
The nutmeg likes fertile volcanic soil and tropical climate without dry season; culture currently confined to Indonesia and Grenada in the Caribbean.
The fruit is a drupe the size and shape of a large apricot, consisting of several separate parts to use:
* Flesh, the pericarp opens into two valves showing maturity within the nutmeg itself,
* The nut is surrounded by a network cut fleshy, bright orange red, the mace
* Finally, a thin woody shell protects the kernel that is to say the nuts.
COMPOSITION AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES
The essential oil content (see glossary) of mace varies according to geographical origin, 8% in Granada 12-13% in Indonesia and is largely composed of terpene hydrocarbons (see glossary).
The chemistry of the mace is complex phenolic compounds (derivatives of eugenol), derived from myristicine (fragransol, myristicanol), furan compounds (fragransine).
The essential oil of almond (5 to 15% by weight) is also composed of terpene hydrocarbons (sabinene, pinene, limonene), small amounts of alkenylbenzene (myristicine and élémicine 5 7U) and eugenol (1 2%).
There is also a solid fat at room temperature, butter, nutmeg, rich myristicine, which is extracted by hot pressing.
The essential oil is antibacterial, platelet antiaggrégant (see glossary) (anti-inflammatory). We believe that these properties are mainly due to eugenol and isoeugenol as well as terpene hydrocarbons. The myristicine (akin to Apiol parsley) is toxic, stupefying, causing serious problems like atropine but without miosis.
The methanol extract of mace is anti-inflammatory.
USES
Nutmeg is a spice First, at very low doses, we scratch a little to flavor cocktails, pastries, some meals, then it has qualities stomachic and carminative (see glossary);
The mace is used in sausages and in the development of industrial sauces.
It uses little nutmeg in Western medicine and in aromatherapy for its antibacterial properties and efficiency assumed in cholelithiasis, it is suggested in acute and chronic cholecystitis:
1 to 2g ET nutmeg in 125 ml of alcohol at 60 degrees, 30 to 60 drops 3 times per day.
Traditionally it is prescribed to combat cholera, vomiting, enteritis and threatened abortion (sic), but several cases of poisoning have been reported from ingestion of small quantities of nuts yet
(5 to 15g).
Chinese medicine is also used as stomachic and diarrhea.
Ayurvedic medicine uses the mace for its digestive, carminative and expectorant (see glossary).
It is traditionally attributed aphrodisiac qualities to the nuts and especially mace example of perfect love liquor Dr. J. VALNET:
2 liters of brandy and cinnamon 15g + 40g grated lemon + 30 + mace cane syrup;
macerate for 1 months, 1 liqueur glass per day.
Other species of Myristica:
M. malabarica from India,
M. argentea from Papua
sometimes sold in place of the true nutmeg,
they do not have the odor or taste.
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