I’m well into my Christmas cookie baking, a tradition I hold onto with fervor. Yesterday was nutmeg log day. The thing about making well-loved recipes is the memories that come with them. I could almost feel that moment when my grandmother arrived at the door on Christmas Eve with her multitude of gaily decorated boxes each filled with a different type of cookie. Nutmeg logs were one of my favorites; never as a young girl did I think I would make my own. They were part of my grandmother, like the Cologne 4711 she wore.
Some Nutmeg History
In the 14th century, a pound of nutmeg was purportedly worth three sheep and a cow; in the 17th century, the little, fragrant nut was valued higher than gold. Like so many spices, nutmeg was initially used as a medicinal; if you ingest enough it can cause hallucinations, and when I was in college plenty of people smoked nutmeg as a legal alternative to pot. I never tried it; I was already too busy grating it into my baked goods.
Less Than Gold
Today, nutmeg is affordable, and it is widely used in French dishes, mostly savory. I follow suit, adding it to soups, stews, ragouts, and even as here, to steamed vegetables. And of course, it goes into many a cookie and a cake.
The Whole Nut
When buying nutmeg, get the whole nut. They keep forever, and you can grate them at will to get the most of their peppery-sweet flavor. You can use an old-fashioned nutmeg grater, a rasp, even the small holes on a cheese grater though there, the grind is more rough
