THE NUTMEG GRINDER

Nutmeg has been the source of problems for centuries. Nutmeg has been tied to everything from hallucinogenic drugs, to the plague, to smuggling, to scams, to abortion, to the birth of capitalism. And you thought it was only good for eggnog!

Originally found only on the tiny volcanic islands of Banda in equatorial Eastern Indonesia, traders soon found it was a hot commodity.

Ancient Indian and Chinese societies used nutmeg medicinally and recreationally. Members of the royal courts were said to carry small ivory boxes filled with powdered nutmeg and sprinkled the exotic spice in their wine to intensify the hallucinogenic effect.

Later hippies in the '60's experimented with nutmeg. Most concluded the buzz was bad and the stomach cramps worse.

In Elizabethan times nutmeg was said to ward off the plague. And we know how well that treatment went...

In 1393, a pound of nutmeg was worth 7 fat oxen in Germany. That price dipped in the 15th c. when Europeans established trade in Indonesia. However, by the 17th c. the Dutch had locked down a nutmeg monopoly after massacring most of the native inhabitants of the Banda islands and destroying almost every nutmeg tree in East Indonesia except for a few remaining trees under their control.

This is where smuggling comes in.

Tired of paying high prices and wanting in on the action, the French successfully smuggled out nutmeg saplings to Mauritius, where they died. The British planted their contraband nutmeg in the West Indies, where they flourished.

Nutmeg later migrated to the U.S., where American profiteers suckered the gullible. Scrupulous businessmen manufactured wooden carved nutmegs and sold them as the real thing. That's how the state of Connecticut became known as 'The Nutmeg State" and the term "wooden nutmeg" came to mean a scam.

Victorian housewives found another use for nutmeg besides adding it to pumpkin pie and holiday drinks. According to historical medical records, nutmeg was ingested to abort unwanted pregnancies. Although the spice may have unwittingly supported rapid population growth leading to industrialization and the birth of the urban economy, it proved to be useless as an abortion aid.

Sometimes reflecting on the past can give us better perspective. Perhaps it is time to stop feeling guilty about losing that nutmeg grinder. If history is any indication, a little nutmeg leads to a lot of trouble.

Sources:
Nutmeg History
Food Tale: Nutmeg