Yes you heard that right, in addition to being a spice the fruity flesh containing the nutmeg pit which is where the spice is derived from is an edible fruit of all things. While it is not commonly eaten as a fruit, it is juiced and mixed with sugar more often. Believe it or not at one time cultivation of nutmeg was isolated to a small group of islands known as the "Spice Islands" of the Banda islands in the eastern Indonesia island chain. In the medieval period, Arab trader's kept the exact location of the nutmeg growing region a closely guarded secret which enabled them to command a very high price when trading with the Venetian traders who controlled it's price and distribution in Europe, making it's price worth more than it's weight in gold. Not to be outdone by the Arabs, the Dutch upon learning of the location of the Banda islands waged a brutal and bloody war in 1521 to take control of the island chain and monopolize the nutmeg trade. True to form and being the genocidal maniacs that most Western European colonizers are so famously known for being outside the Western world, the dutch via their "Dutch East India" company wiped out 85% of the Bandanese people. Which then allowed them to command even bigger profits by cutting the Arabs out of the trade entirely. Pretty good business model if you're Dutch Royalty right?
Enough of the sordid history of the spice trade though, here is a picture of Mystica fragrans:
The tree grows to heights of 30-60 feet and with the Dutch monopoly being broken it is now cultivated in other parts of the tropics such as Malaysia, Grenada, and India. Not surprisingly the availability of nutmeg is now worldwide and the price has dropped significantly in modern times.
Have you tried nutmeg fruit? Let us know about your experience with this fruit.
Thanks again to Weird Explorer for making this cool video about Myristica fragrans, please consider contributing to his patreon here:
https://www.patreon.com/weirdexplorer
