Nutmeg has come a long way since the days when it was thought to ward off the plague! These days it's appreciated much more for its flavor-enhancing properties and you'll find it used in everything from meat dishes to your favorite latté!
Nutmeg is actually the seed of a tropical fruit thought to have originated in New Guinea (the same fruit that gives us mace, actually!). The seeds are light brown on the outside, oblong-shaped, and about an inch long. Inside, there are densely packed layers of starchy tissue and fragrant oil.
For the best flavor, buy the seeds whole and grate just the amount you need using a microplaner. You don't need to toast the seed or remove the outer skin before using it, and the nutmeg seeds will keep for years. Powdered nutmeg quickly loses its potency.
In sweet dishes, nutmeg works very well with dairy-based dishes and is often used in custards and dessert sauces. You'll also find it used in combination with other warm spices like cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves in holiday cookies and cakes.
Nutmeg is also frequently used in savory meat-based dishes, where it subtly enhances and rounds out the flavor. You'll see it in sausage mixes, lasagnas, and ragus. Nutmeg also pairs very well with winter squash and dark leafy greens.
In either sweet or savory dishes, a little bit of nutmeg goes a long way - especially when you're grating it fresh. Most recipes call for a mere 1/8 teaspoon!
If you find the flavor of nutmeg too strong for your liking, try substituting it with mace. Mace has a sweeter and less astringent flavor.
How do you like to use nutmeg?
Related: Recipe: Pumpkin Pie Spice Mix
(Image: Emma Christensen for the Kitchn)
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I add nutmeg to everything this time of year. A few swipes over the microplane and the grinds fall into whatever I'm making. Seriously. Even chocolate chip cookies get a touch of nutmeg. Yum yum yummy!
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I like it in beans and greens soup. White beans, kale, garlic, broth, and nutmeg.
I have always loved nutmeg in sweets, often grating a bit of it just for a sniff, and it's only in the last few years that I've been discovering its common savory uses. As a child, my most common experience of it was as a topping for grape-nut custard, but I can't think of any food that wouldn't be better for it. I grate it all over the place.
I like it on boiled potatoes (with a little olive oil and salt)
A tiny bit in scrambled eggs is amazing -- I haven't made them without it once since I first tried it. I also like it in sauteed greens.
I asked this in a previous post about nutmeg: what amount of fresh ground nutmeg should be used when a recipe calls for (regular, presumably) ground nutmeg?
amt230 - I think you can actually use fresh and powdered interchangeably, or at least I always have. The fresh is more aromatic and potent, so you need less of it to get the same effect. But I think that's offset by the fact that it's not as compressed as powdered nutmeg. (Freshly grated nutmeg is "fluffier" so less of it fits in the bowl of a teaspoon measure.)
That's my thought anyway!
in addition to baking, I use nutmeg whenever I make white sauces (mac and cheese, alfredo, etc.)
That photo is beautiful! Do you think I could get a high-res version to use as a desktop?
I also use it in all my white and cheese sauces - just a hint. And always in my spinach and baked egg dish (a family fave for supper.)
Last Sunday I grated two WHOLE nutmegs as the sole spice for my Mrs. Moulton's White Fruitcakes (other delicious ingrediants: golden raisins, bourbon and pecan. That's it for what goes in the batter. Cured with cheesecloth damp with bourbon until Christmas, this is fruitcake that even fruitcake haters enjoy.