Since nutmeg is a popular ingredient in many holiday recipes, I’m sure you’ve seen something along the lines of “1/2 teaspoon freshly-grated nutmeg” as opposed to “1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg” in recent weeks.  Given the amazing, aromatic properties of fresh-grated nutmeg, it’s showing its face in recipes more frequently.  It truly makes such a difference!

I remember a time when I had no idea little balls of whole nutmeg existed, let alone were offered in popular chain stores like World Market.  All I knew were the over-priced, shelved-for-who-knows-how-long bottles of pre-ground spices at my local grocery store.  Thank heavens I finally figured out the real deal on nutmeg!  My baking, in the past several years, has greatly improved due to increased attention in the “quality of ingredients” category.

So go ahead, give those little balls a go this week.  All you’ll need–in addition to a couple whole nutmeg–is a Microplane Zester.  It’s one of my top 5 favorite kitchen tools (you may want to ask Santa for one this year).  You can find this handy dandy kitchen essential at World Market (also home to whole nutmeg), Target, Williams-Sonoma, and any local fine kitchen store.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 1:01 am and is filed under Steph B, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.