Nutmeg and Victorian Baking

by USA Today Bestselling Author Kristin Holt

Lately, I’ve been exploring Victorian oatmeal cookies (plain, because that’s how they began), then Victorian oatmeal cookies with raisins (coming 3-5-19), and even taking another look at sugar cookies in the nineteenth century. [See more Victorian cookie, cake, and vintage baking links at the end of this article.]

Would you believe how common the use of nutmeg was in the kitchens of our great-great-great grandmothers? But instead of “fresh” grated spices in little glass or plastic bottles with tight-fitting caps, our baking ancestors used spices in whatever form it came, and that usually meant unprocessed.

“A good nutmeg should be round, large and heavy, of a drab or light brown color, and finely marbled in the cross section.”

~ The Times of Streator, Illinois on December 5, 1889

Artist's rendition of nutmeg, nutmeg cross section, and grated nutmeg.

Nutmegs, and how to ascertain the quality; published in Our New Cook Book and Household Receipts, published in 1883.

Nutmeg was a common and well-loved spice for American bakers in the Victorian Era.

Sixty-Four Recipes for Thanksgiving Pies were published (took up a whole newspaper page, above and below the fold) on Sunday morning, November 25, 1900 in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. This full-sized article includes all the usual: pumpkin pies, apple pies, lemon pies and apple dumplings. Molasses pies, orange pies, and peach meringue, along with champagne jelly and Macaroon Custard fill in the cracks (between those familiar-to-the-21st-century person). I find it interesting that nutmeg is included in MOST of those pies recipes. In truth, the “expert cooks” whose recipes were selected for this important newspaper spread added nutmeg to the following pies: pumpkin, cocoanut [sic], orange, apple, custard, mince, sweet potato, and macaroon custard. The few pies without nutmeg include lemon, rice and raisin, apricot, squash, cheesecake, chocolate, and rhubarb. These cooks knew where nutmeg belonged, and they proudly add it to Asparagus Croustade, Brussels Sprouts, and plum pudding.

Prices of various spices (1 lb. weight each), as published in The Boston Globe on December 18, 1898.

Many Victorian Cake and Cookie Recipes Call for Nutmeg

Similarly The Saint Paul Globe of Saint Paul, Minnesota published a nearly full-page spread on Sunday, July 10, 1887, with “Globe Cookbook” recipes for cakes, cookies, and desserts.

Illustration: Globe Cookbook, from The Saint Paul Globe of Saint Paul, Minnesota on July 10, 1887.

This treasure trove of vintage cake and cookie recipes includes the well-loved nutmeg(s) in cakes including: “Farmer’s Wife”, Plum, Molasses, and a whole variety that aren’t named. These “unnamed” cakes contain all the normal ingredients (plus nutmeg). See a few of these “without names” but-far-too-delicious-to-not-send-in-to-The-Globe.

Unnamed Cake Recipe (with nutmeg) (No. 1), published in The Saint Paul Globe on July 10, 1887.

Unnamed Cake Recipe (with nutmeg) (No. 2), published in The Saint Paul Globe on July 10, 1887.

Unnamed Cake Recipe (with nutmeg) (No. 3), published in The Saint Paul Globe on July 10, 1887.

Popularity of Nutmeg in the late Victorian-era United States

By 1899, the demand for nutmegs in the United States was such that 800,000 pounds of nutmegs were imported that year (plus 800,000 pounds of mace—a product derived from inferior nutmegs that became incorrectly known as ‘mace’). Estimating 120 nutmegs to the pound... “every house-wife knows retail at a penny apiece”—now that’s a LOT of nutmegs. (See the source of this info, which immediately follows.)

Clipping from The Washington Times of  Washington, District of Columbia on July 23, 1899, where the data about 800,000 pounds of nutmegs were imported per year.

Don't forget the grater

Unique Nutmeg Grater, for sale in the Montgomery, Ward, & Co. Catalog, Spring and Summer volume, 1895.

Bakers still grate whole nutmegs today

Yumm! Nutmeg

There you have it! Victorian bakers at home and in bakeries enjoyed fresh nutmeg (my mouth is watering over the fragrant spice right now) in their pastries, pies, cookies, and cakes. Makes me want to take a seat at their table and sample the nineteenth century wares.

How about you? Care to join us?

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Copyright 2019 Kristin Holt LC