146 SPICES 



CHAP. 



is usually taken at night into the room used for smoking 

 the nutmegs, but in places where the nutmegs are not 

 smoked a drying -room, light and airy, should be 

 provided. Smoking the mace is liable to make it 

 spotted and spoil its colour, so that if owing to the 

 dampness of the weather it should be necessary to use 

 artificial heat, it should be dried over a smokeless fire 

 of charcoal, or at least care must be taken not to allow 

 the smoke to touch it. 



Great care must be taken to prevent its getting 

 mouldy, to which it is very liable, and which very 

 much depreciates the value of the spice. Mace, at first 

 of a brilliant red colour, gradually becomes orange, and 

 finally yellow, after some months' drying. 



A perfect sample of mace should consist of entire 

 double blades, not broken, flattened and of large size, 

 horny in texture and not too brittle, and of a good, 

 clear, and bright colour. 



VARIETIES OF MACE 



Pereira (Materia Medica, 1850) gives three varieties 

 of mace as distinguished by the London dealers in that 

 day, and these three varieties seem to be known in 

 commerce to the present time. 



1. Penang Mace. This is the most highly valued. 

 It is more flaky and well spread than the others, and of 

 good size and colour. 



2. Dutch or Batavia Mace. A fleshy form which 

 fetches a lower price. Possibly he here refers to what 

 is known as Macassar mace, the product of another 

 tree, Myristica argentea, which occurs in more or less 

 broken pieces of a brownish colour, and dull and opaque, 

 with the surface often powdery white. The segments 

 have very broad, rounded axils, and are fewer in number 

 and widely separated. They are about J in. wide at 

 the upper ends. The flavour resembles that of the 

 true nutmeg, has more of a sassafras tendency and 

 is distinctly acrid. 



