Nutmeg Juice: Only on Penang?

Nutmeg at a Penang market: seeds with mace still attached, left, and whole fruit

Our last post on breakfasting (several times over) in the western Penang village of Balik Pulau elicited a few emails, all asking for more information about nutmeg juice.

As frequent visitors to Penang we have come to take nutmeg juice for granted. And given that nutmeg is grown elsewhere in the region, as well as in the Caribbean, it never occurred to us that its juice might be not also be consumed elsewhere. But cursory research suggests that just maybe Penang-ites are the only folks juicing the fruit.

Nutmeg is native to the Moluccas in Indonesia (also known as the 'spice islands'). The pale yellow-green, egg-shaped fruit encloses a brown seed -- this, after drying, is the spice we know as nutmeg' -- encased in an orange 'web' which, dried, is mace.

We might assume that the nutmeg tree (Myristica fragrans) made its way from the Spice Islands to Penang, where it's grown in the west and northwest, on ships that plied southeast Asia's spice trade route (George Town was a major port on the route). But supposedly nutmeg and cloves were prised from the grip of the Dutch, who made Indonesia a colony and maintained a monopoly on these two precious spices, by a Frenchman named Pierre Poivre (yes, that's Peter Pepper). Poivre is said, after two failed attempts, to have gotten his hands on over a thousand rooted nutmeg and clove trees in 1770. He planted them on his estate on Mauritius and from there they spread. (This tale is from the excellent cookbook Where Flavor Was Born.)

Nutmeg was introduced to Penang by the British, who established George Town in 1786.

These days northern Sulawesi, Indonesia is the world's largest nutmeg exporter, supplying almost 75% of our nutmeg needs. But it seems there's no juicing happening on that Indonesian island. Instead, Sulawesians are converting the 'waste' fruit leftover from nutmeg and mace production into another export product: charcoal.

According to Culinaria's authoritive Southeast Asian Specialties nutmeg fruit "is either candied or made into preserves in its native land." In Cradle of Flavor James Oseland writes that during nutmeg's twice-a-year harvest cooks on Indonesia's Banda Islands make use of its fruit by adding it "to stews and curries for its acidity" and, finely slivered, to "the chile-hot sambal buah pala. It's also candied and used to make a jam called seleh pala". There's no mention at all of useage of the fruit in the Nutmeg entry in The Oxford Companion to Food (presumably this oversight will be remedied in the forthcoming Oxford Companion to Southeast Asian Food, co-edited by Indonesian cookbook author Sri Owen), nor in Ian Hemphill's Spice Notes and Recipes.

Fresh "white" nutmeg juice, with a Chinese sour plum

On Penang fresh nutmeg fruits can be found in most wet markets. The fleshy fruit is sliced and made into a pickle (also available at most wet markets) but, most memorably, squeezed for juice. "White" nutmeg juice is light green-yellowish, tangy and almost grassy in taste, and it's often flavored with a Chinese sour plums. The juice is also boiled to a syrup and used in a much sweeter, brownish iced drink.

For a Westerner like myself who grew up associating the flavor of nutmeg with pumpkin pie and eggnog, tasting the dried seed's warm, mellow spiciness in a fresh, tart juice was, well, startling. But the weirdness dissipated quickly. It's a strange but really delightful beverage, one that I certainly would (and have) drive around an island for.

Given that nutmeg juice seems limited to Penang (chime in readers, I'm happy to be corrected here -- where else have you seen/drunk fresh nutmeg juice?), it seems almost criminal to visit the island and leave without trying the fresh stuff. Find it in coffee shops, more easily in the west of the island than in George Town.

Update Nov 8 2010: one of our Twitter followers reports that nutmeg juice is popular in the home of nutmeg, the Indonesian Molucca islands.

Comments

[Tone]

Im in Penang right now and have been looking for nutmegjuice since I read your previous post about it, but havent been able to fint it. We`re leaving tomorrow so I guess I will have to wait until next time to try it... sad..

And by the way, it`s funny to read your reference to Whrer Flavour was born, beeing a norwegain, Andreas Viestad is one of my favourite cookbookauthors.
One last thing; thank you for sharing info on Restaurant TeikSeng, we had two wonderful meals there!!

[Lina]

I haven't seen this anywhere else (although to be fair, I didn't notice it in Penang, either). Sounds mysterious--looking forward to trying it.

[Sasha @ Global Table Adventure]

Does this drink have any numbing qualities? I know that putting a pinch of fresh grated nutmeg on the tongue numbs it... so I wonder how this would translate to the drink.

[heidi husnak]

Looks delightful. I had been thinking about it since the original post and thank you for the further info as well as the heads up on "Where Flavor was Born". Is the juice sweetened?

[MarinaV]

Hi Robyn, last year I bought some nutmeg jam on Grenada, Caribbean, where there are large nutmeg plantations. But it was just a sweet paste with no nutmeggy flavour. I was quite disappointed, as you may understand :(
I enjoy reading you very much.

[Robyn]

Tone - sorry to hear that! It's always available in Balik Pulau at the coffeeshop described in the previous post, if you have time to go over there (that coffee shop also has the island's best siam laksa!). Just a 30-min drive from George Town.
'Where Flavor Was Born' is fantastic, and seems to have completely flown under the radar. I really enjoy his shows, he seems like a very down-to-earth 'celebrity' chef.

Lina - add Balik Pulau to your packed Penang itinerary. ;-)

Sasha - no, no numbing qualities at all, despite the very strong dried spice/nutmeg flavor.

Heidi - one version of the juice is sweetened, made from a syrup boiled down from the 'white' juice you see in the photo above. This one is tart and refreshing. Also, get that book. It's a great read and fun to cook from.

Hi MarinaV - Thanks, I wish I could read yours! That's too bad about the jam, bec. I bet when properly prepared the fruit would make a lovely preserve. Might just buy some fruit when I'm next in Penang and give it a try at home.

[KY]

there's one particular place you could find nutmeg juice in Selangor too
http://bit.ly/cBDCGq

[John]

There's a South Sulawesi restaurant in Tebet in Jakarta called Daeng Tata that serves nutmeg juice. They put the mace in it too.

[foodbin]

and it helps to get rids of wind in the tummy, too.

[Katy]

Not saying I am right, but one of the reasons why I sort of relate this drink to Hakka is the use of 冰糖/rock candy (?)(http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh/%E5%86%B0%E7%B3%96) at the first 'developing' stage of this drink. 冰糖 is a Chinese invention. John mentioned the mace in the drink. That sounds like the basic version of making this drink in the 80s - boiling the 'nut' with 冰糖 by Penang locals, before the emerge of the peel and squeeze white juice you described here in the later 80s maybe or even 90s.
I won't be too surprised if say someone in the Caribbean report a nutmeg drink boiled version. There are a sizable Hakka populations in that region as well.
All assumptions of course...

[stephen]

first time to hear about nutmeg juice. .pretty exciting! Although I have never tasted either one, I'd love to try making them.

[Sarah]

I was introduced to nutmeg juice as a welcome drink in the Holiday Inn Batu Ferringhi on Penang. I also had it at a batik workshop that we went to when touring the island. It was fantastic stuff and it would be great if it were available elsewhere.

[Laura]

I just had fresh nutmeg juice at the Liberty Claypot Fish Head Curry restaurant at Beach and Chulia Streets. Spouse had an excellent fresh mango juice, also served with a salted plum, but I preferred the nutmeg. Absolutely the perfect refreshment after a hot walk around Georgetown!

[R Hudson]

We were in Penang this weekend and had nutmeg juice at several cafes or coffee shops in the Georgetown area. There is a little shop near the corner of Cannon and Armenian street that serves it as well as ice kachang, a local dessert. I hear the Edelweiss has it too.

[N West]

You can also drink Nutmeg Juice at on the bar balcony after a tour of the Cheong Fatt Tze (Blue) Mansion. They chill the glass and dip it in powered nutmeg, which adds something extra. The best nutmeg juice at had during our last visit this June.

Most first time visitors to Georgetown will have the Blue Mansion of the 'Rockefeller of the East' on their itinerary already.