Organic Mace Blades Standard - 12g - Steenbergs details and description

Steenbergs Organic Mace - the lace-like, dried covering of organic nutmeg - is a sweet and flavourful spice that is well worth using. Steenbergs Organic Mace has a softer flavour than nutmeg, and for a nice change of pace use Steenbergs organic mace in place of organic nutmeg in any recipe - on stewed fruit or as a topping for cheese dishes from sauces to quiche. Organic blade mace has a stronger flavour than powdered mace and is still much sought after - being a key ingredient for cordon bleu chefs.

Mace comes from the nutmeg tree, Myristica fragrans, which was originally native only to the Banda Islands in Indonesia. Nutmeg trees are a tropical evergreen tree that grow some 7-10 metres high (23-33ft), and have shiny green leaves that are dark on the upper side and pale-green beneath. Nutmeg trees are male or female and one male tree is needed per 10 female trees, so that the female trees can be fertilised and then bear fruit. Unwanted male trees are thinned out from the nutmeg plantation. Nutmeg trees become fully mature after 15 years and are fruitful for 40 years. When the fruit has developed, it looks like a yellow nectarine. When the fruit is ripe, the fruit is picked and the flesh cut off the shell, making sure the shiny, blood-red mace aril on the outside is not removed or damaged. My photos on my blog show this quite well. The mace aril brings nourishment to the nutmeg seed (nutmeg spice), clinging tightly to the shell that encases the seed. The mace is peeled from the nutmeg shell and then dried in the sun in Indonesia for a few hours only and its shiny wet and irridescent redness dulls to a matt red-orange colour, or then in Grenada the mace blades are stored in the dark for 4 months to dry out. Whole mace still often has the curved shape of the nutmeg shell and has its characteristic fingered shape. For more on mace, dig for information with Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages or Wikipedia.

Organic mace is part of Steenbergs range of over 400 organic spices, peppers, herbs and flavoured sugars. For your local stockist click on "Where to see us", or call 01765 640088 or email enquiries@steenbergs.co.uk.