Nutmeg Extract

#### Nutmeg Extract. **Nutmeg **and mace have—like most other spices— been extracted to yield products with a richer, more true-to-nature flavor than the one reproduced by the essential oil. A few flavor houses specialize in **Nutmeg Extract**, but many consumers will produce their own extract from selected nutmeg or mace. For flavor purposes, a hydrocarbon extract is preferable since it has greater tenacity and stability to heat in a later processing of food, etc. For perfumes, the "**Absolute**** ****of**** ****Nutmeg**" or the evaporated alcoholic extracts are more suitable. They are soluble in alcohol and in most perfume materials, and they will not deposit any resinous substance later on in bottles, aerosol containers, etc. **Nutmeg Extract **is prepared from the dried, ripe seed of the fruit from Myristica Fragrans, a tree originating in the East Indian archipelago (see **Nutmeg Oil**). The nutmeg tree is now cultivated widely all over the tropical zones. Indonesia is the main supplier of "East Indian nutmeg' while the Federation of the West Indies are main suppliers of "West Indian nutmeg". Ceylon produces "East Indian nutmeg" West Indian nutmegs yield slightly more monoterpenes by distillation than do the East Indian nutmegs. Consequently, the latter are preferred in flavor work. If the nutmegs are extracted with a hydrocarbon solvent, it will be necessary to remove from the extract the significant amount of odorless and flavorless matter, which is solid and consists mainly of glycerol myristate. This ester is the main constituent of the so-called nutmeg butter (hydraulically expressed, fixed nutmeg oil, a solid, waxy mass). Glyceryl myristate is almost insoluble in cold alcohol, and the hydrocarbon extract of nutmeg is consequently washed with alcohol to yield an "absolute". Most often, the comminuted nutmegs are extracted directly with ethyl alcohol, and the extract is chilled, filtered and evaporated cautiously under slight vacuum. **Nutmeg**** ****Extract**** **is usually a dark orange colored, somewhat grainy, viscous mass of very warm, suave, spicy-balsamic and strongly aromatic odor. The flavor is slightly burning, warm and spicy, truly reminiscent of nutmeg. The extract finds now and then use in old-fashioned types of Oriental perfume where it produces delightful effects in combination with e.g. sandalwood, vetiver, cypriol, sage clary, oakmoss, lavender absolute, tonka absolute, labdanum extracts, bergamot oil, patchouli oil, geranium oil, etc. Minute additions of nutmeg extract can have very interesting effects in rose bases, etc. **Ultrasonic**** ****Nutmeg**** ****Extract**** **is produced in France. The product is semi-solid and rather dark, but it is applicable in flavors and perfumes with a strikingly natural effect. See monograph on **Nutmeg**** ****Oil**** **(including **Mace**** ****Oil).** See also monograph on **Mace**** ****Extract**.