The Scent Trail by Celia Lyttelton

Author:Celia Lyttelton
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Nutmeg Power

THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT NUTMEG, IF TAKEN IN SUFFICIENT quantities, can make you as high as a kite. It is added to organic ecstasy and can be taken neat (two tablespoonfuls, freshly grated, is the dose, apparently). It can also be added to iced cocktails, especially a daiquiri, or made into a “space paste,” which is, I gather, four parts nutmeg mixed with other spices and Magimixed with maple syrup, then spread on toast or gulped down in a cup. If you drink several cups you can, apparently, remain high for days.

Nutmeg’s natural high is similar to a hashish buzz—too much of it produces wild hallucinations, even astral traveling. The courtiers of ancient India, China and Imperial Rome carried small ivory boxes of freshly grated nutmeg powder to sprinkle into their wine for its hallucinogenic effect, and when sea trade routes were established, slaves—who knew that a few large seeds would give them a euphoric buzz—were punished for eating the nutmeg cargo.

Nutmeg is a recreational stimulant, and it is legal in U.S. prisons. Before his conversion to Islam, Malcolm X chilled out on nutmeg when his supply of marijuana ran out. In his autobiography he wrote, “I got high in Charleston prison on nutmeg. It had the kick of three or four reefers.” When I got back to England I experimented with nutmeg grated into a glass of port and it certainly had a mildly trippy effect.

Nutmeg is also lauded for its aphrodisiac and magical powers. A sixteenth-century monk advised men to spread nutmeg oil over their genitals to increase virility, and William Salmon, a seventeenth-century doctor, recommended that nutmeg oil rubbed into the genitals would arouse sexual passion. Nutmeg was once widely used not only as an aphrodisiac but also as a cure for frigidity and impotence. It was, you could say, the first Viagra. As late as the eighteenth century it was still the custom for English newlyweds to be sent to their marital beds with a posset of wine, milk, egg yolk, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Nutmeg is also a mental stimulant which blends beautifully with citrus oil, geranium and ylang-ylang.

Nutmeg has many other properties, and magical powers have been attributed to it; it is sometimes thought of as a sorcerer’s scent and is one of the ingredients of a magical perfume described in The Key of Solomon the King—a book of black magic.

More colloquially, in football, to kick the ball between an opponent’s legs is to “nutmeg” him—possibly from the slang use of the word “nutmegs” for testicles.

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