Nutmeg- Jathikka

Last weekend we had gone to Aluva for a short visit to my cousin and family. They had taken a rented house near to the Aluva town.   Their home was situated in the midst of a jathikka thottam.  Its a really soothing sight and the atmosphere was more fresh and rejuvanating.  I had plucked one jathikka from there and taken images of jathipathri.  Nutmeg is a main item in the spice family.  Mace or jathipathri is used in spices.

Jathikka-ripe fruit

Jathipathri-mace
This tree is very common in Kerala.  I liked this tree because of its rich greenery.  This tree will be covered by its lush green leaves always.  When we enter into these plantations we will get more fresh air.  This jathikka fruit  have two main parts.  Its flesh is not used in spices.  I had some memories of eating this fruit with salt,  childhood curiosity led us to this sour fruit.  My sister who is very smart and always a foodie had eaten more fruits and the result was a massive stomach complaint.  So always be cautious during the consumption of jathikka fruit.  Its used to make pickles and jams.  These are the informations I had about this spice and as part of my blogging venture I had gone through the web to know more about this spice.
I had got lot of informations about this and some of them are noted below

• Native of Indonesia,  Spice Islands
• Fruit which carries two parts used as spice
• Nutmeg is the seed of the tree which is used as spice
• Thin red covering or Aril of the seed is also used as spice(Mace)
• It has culinary as well as medicinal uses
• Nutmeg and mace are dried in the sun 
• Nutmeg and mace contains oil which is used in medicines and perfumes

Mace and nutmeg