• Fruits are available throughout the year, but the peak period of harvest is from June to July.
• When fruits are fully ripe, the nuts split open.
• These are either plucked from the tree or allowed to drop.
• The two major products are nutmeg and mace. Dried nutmeg and mace are directly used as spice and also for the preparation of their derivatives.
• After de-rinding the nutmeg fruit, red feathery aril (mace) is separated from pericarp.
• The mace is detached, flattened and sun dried on mats for 3-5 days or in artificial heat drier.
• The nuts are sun dried for four to eight weeks or in artificial heat drier until kernel rattle inside the shell.
• They are stored in warm dry place prior to shelling.

Processing

Oleoresin

• Nutmeg and mace oleoresins are prepared by extracting the ground spice with organic solvents.
• Yield of oleoresin is 10-12 per cent for nutmeg and 10-13 per cent for mace.
• Mace oleoresin possesses a fine, fresh fruity character.

Nutmeg butter

• Nutmeg contains 25-40 per cent of fixed oil that can be obtained by pressing the crushed nuts between plates in the presence of steam or by extracting with solvents.
• The product, known as nutmeg butter, is a highly aromatic, orange coloured fat with the consistency of butter at ambient temperature.

Nutmeg oil

• This is obtained as pale yellow to white volatile liquid possessing a fresh warm aromatic odour.
• The yield ranges from 7 to 16 per cent.
• The unshelled nuts are coarsely crushed in a mechanical cracker and steam distilled.

Mace oil

• The mace yields 4-17 per cent colourless to pale yellow liquid possessing organoleptic properties similar to nutmeg oil.
• Nutmeg and mace oil are also used for flavouring.