Nutmeg has a rich, warm, and sweet aroma and a taste of pine with flowery, and citrus notes. It is also slightly peppery with a hint of clove, and a little woody. Nutmeg is used extensively in sweets and in dishes based on cream, milk, and eggs as well as in savoury dishes, including soups and stews and for flavouring meat and vegetable dishes. In Italy it is included in pasta fillings and sauces and the Dutch often add it to white cabbage and cauliflower. In North African and the Middle Eastern dishes it often flavours mutton and lamb and, in France, it is combined with pepper and cloves in slow-cooked stews. Nutmeg is best when grated over a dish towards the end of cooking as prolonged heat can spoil its flavour. Many spice mixes include nutmeg such as the Tunisian five-spice Qâlat Daqqa, Moroccan Ras al Hanout and the French Quatre épices and Mixed Spice for baking.
