Mace is made from the lacy, red outer coating that covers the shell around the nutmeg kernel. Once this coating is removed, it's dried, and can be found and purchased as whole, golden-orange "blades".

Mace is similar to nutmeg in flavor , but more subtle and delicate. Mace could be used in sweeter dishes. But it's often used in spice blends for flavoring meat dishes, stews, curries, savory sauces, homemade pickles, and is a common ingredient in Indian cuisine.

Botanically known as Myristica fragrans, the nutmeg tree originates in Banda, the largest of the Molucca spice islands of Indonesia

In the first century A.D., Roman author Pliny speaks of a tree bearing nuts with two flavors. Emperor Henry VI was said to have the streets of Rome fumigated with nutmegs before his coronation. In the the sixth century, nutmegs were brought by Arab merchants to Constantinople.

Mace Production
When the nutmeg fruit is about to split apart, the fruit is harvested and the fruit’s kernel and seed are separated. Then the kernel is dried in the sunlight and the mace is produced.