The Secret to Perfect Spinach
The students in my Classical French cooking class were watching a recording of the prestigious Bocuse d’Or cooking competition in Lyon, France. The competition is fierce, training takes months and win or loose can hang on the smallest detail. Details like seasoning of spinach. Yes, spinach needs more that just salt and pepper, it needs a bit of garlic and a grate of nutmeg.
After the video we went to the kitchen and did a side-by-side taste test. To a student they were skeptical that such a small addition in such a small quantity could make a substantial difference. They were all surprised to find that it did make a difference for the better. The spinach was spinach-ier. Not everyone liked nutmeg, but even they acknowledged a change.
Sometimes You Feel Like A Nut
Nutmeg grows on an evergreen tree in Indonesia and Grenada. 
Indonesian nutmeg, East Indian nutmeg, tends toward the smaller sized nut and nutmeg from Grenada, West Indian nutmeg, is larger, which is often the nutmeg we buy in the US.[1]
Nutmeg is actually the seed of the nut. Around the seed is an aril often of bright red, which is wrapped 
around a shell of the nut we buy and grate. That aril is the spice mace. The harvest of mace is, of course, far less than of nutmeg, with a 100:1 yield of nutmeg to mace. Despite their close proximity, their flavors are different.
Familiar Faces in Spice
The Portuguese were big fans of spice, and nutmeg and mace were no exceptions. In the 16th century Portuguese ships sailed to and beyond India to the Spice Islands. In the 17th century, the Dutch monopolized the nutmeg trade.[2]
Competition was often fierce and measures almost unfathomable to gain and maintain control. “The Dutch sent out search and destroy crews to 
control the spread and when there was an abundant harvest, they even burned nutmeg to keep its supply under control. Despite these precautions, the French, led by Pierre Poivre (Peter Piper) smuggled nutmeg seeds and clove seedlings to start a plantation on the island of Mauritius, off the east coast of Africa, near Madagascar.”[3]
Size Matters
“Nutmegs are graded according to their size. Larger nutmegs with a mass [sic] around 8g are considered superior and are traded at [a] higher price. Especially in Grenada, it is common to specify the size of nutmegs as the number of dried nutmegs per British pound; accordingly, the best qualities are referred to as 55’ nuts (8.2g) to 65’ nuts (7.0g). The smallest grades traded in native states are 160’ nuts at only 2.8g. Even smaller nutmegs and nutmeg fragments are included into the BWP grade whish is the lowest quality.”[4]
A Lot Goes A Long Way
Even the most ardent nutmeg fans, people (Alton Brown) who carry one every day, would likely not use enough to be toxic. Yes. Toxic. In large quantities, 5-15 g, which are 1 to 3 nuts (I just weighed some) present enough myristicin which is “a toxic, crystalline, safrole derivative present in star anise, parsley seed oil, and nutmeg oil. When ingested in large quantities, it can cause convulsions, hallucinations, tachycardia, and possibly death.”[5]
Nutmeg which cannot be sorted is called BWP: Broken, Wormy, Punky and is sold for essential oil. However, sometimes it is ground and sold and that product poses a “very real danger of molds producing aflatoxines on BWP nuts, consumers should buy their nutmegs as a whole, and grind for themselves.”[6]
Taste Me
Nutmeg and mace are very similar in flavor, with mace being a bit more fragrant and a bit more sweet than nutmeg.[7] Since one is substantially more costly than another, substitution is possible but maybe not prudent.
That’s Just Grate
Nutmeg may be grated on a wide variety of tools, including a wood rasp. 
That may be the least safe, so instead work with a curve nutmeg grater or a microplane or, if you are feeling particulary nostalgic, a nutmeg grater which looks like a peppermill. I am very fond of nutmeg and even at that could never use a whole nut. Due to the price of mace and the strong similarity of flavor, I never buy it at home. In restaurants we did buy it for there were flavor needs which each filled.
What Do I Do Now?
Add nutmeg to pretty much any egg dish, soufflés or quiche or French toast casserole. Of course spinach. The Veneto are particularly fond of nutmeg in savory dishes and nearly everyone uses it in baking. The Chinese use it as well as the French. Middle East dishes are also good places to use nutmeg.
Get Your Stuff Here
Here are some sources from my affiliates where you can find some of the tools mentioned. Affiliate vendors pay me a small commission at no cost to you.
Nutmeg grinder, nutmeg grater, MicroPlane,
[1] http://gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com/engl/Myri_fra.html
[2] http://gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com/engl/Myri_fra.html
[3] http://theepicentre.com/spice/nutmeg/
[4] http://gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com/engl/Myri_fra.html
[5] https://www.erowid.org/plants/nutmeg/nutmeg_faq.shtml
[6] http://gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com/engl/Myri_fra.html
[7] http://theepicentre.com/spice/mace/
