Mace, Myristica fragrans

Mace is an arillus, a thin leathery tissue between the stone and the pulp of the apricot-like fruit of the nutmeg tree. It is bright red to purple when harvested but amber after drying.

Mace is strongly aromatic, resinous and warm in taste and is generally said to have a finer aroma than its partner nutmeg although the difference is small. When ground, mace maintains its fragrance better than does nutmeg

Mace is the second spice  that is given to us by a nutmeg tree Myristica fragrans. It is one of the rarer commodities, with only 1500-2000 tons produced yearly. There is only 246 milligrams of mace available per potential consumer . A 1.5 ounce standard  mace-shaker  contains a yearly "share "  of   183 people. In 2010,  1700 tons of mace are expected to come to the market.  1275 tons will come from Indonesia, 340-350 tons from Grenada and the rest from India, Papua New Guinea and others. There is a lot of  "fake" mace  that comes from India , Papua and some other countries-- mace that come from other Myristica species that is considered to be sub-standard. Same applies to nutmegs. Many will mix " real" and " not real"  mace. Mace  cost, depending on  many factors, from $8000 to $22000 a ton (with a 5-20t minimum purchase amount), but as of  11th of December 2010 it was traded for $34-42  per kg on Indian spice exchange. "Fake " mace can be bought for as low as $3700  per ton. World crop of Mace is estimated to be worth  about  $30-35 million. Retail  prices in USA  go from $6-8 per ounce to $30 and more  per pound. Grenada produces about  3.2 kg of mace per citizen per year.
There are 475 calories in 100g of mace. It contains 6-6.5% of protein. Calorie content of the mace crop could supply  over 11000 people with  2000 calories a day( or an entire country like Nauru), protein  content could provide  6000 people with 50g a day.
1 nutmeg tree can give up to 1-1.5 kg of mace per year.Approximately 14100-14500+  hectars are used worldwide for production of nutmeg and mace. This is a territory close to British Virgin Islands by size.


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