Indonesia is one of the largest nutmegs exporter country. Nutmeg or Myristica fragran haitt is a spice plant that has a high economic value, especially the parts of nutmeg and flowers (mace), which can be used as nutmeg oil (oleum myristicae, oleum myrist or myristica oil). Nutmeg oil is one of the essential oils that are in high demand in the international market. Indonesian nutmeg has an advantage in the world market because it has a distinctive aroma and high oil yield. Almost all of the cultivation of nutmeg in Indonesia is managed by smallholder plantations. Most of them have not applied proper cultivation technology, low yield quality because harvesting and processing are still traditional
Several other commercial products are also produced from this tree are their essential oils, extracted oleo-resins, and nutmeg butter.
Nutmeg tree is not only grown in Indonesia, but has been well grown in other Asian countries such as Penang Islands (Malaysia), India and Caribbean, Grenada. The nutmeg tree species that grows in Indonesia are M. argantea, which produces ‘Papuan’ nutmegs from Papua and M. fragrans which is the native to Banda Islands in Moluccas.
The main used of Indonesian Nutmeg are for food processing industry (as spices for seasoning meat products), for cooking as in soups, sauces, baked goods and spice mix such as curry powder in Japan. Besides that, nutmeg is also used in the perfumery and pharmaceutical industries. And recently there is a development for using nutmeg as a natural control for insects that infest stored cereal grains.
