I learned something new this morning and thought I'd share it with you!
If you have any vintage cookbooks, especially from the last century, you may have noticed some spices being used that you haven't heard of, or know what flavors they have. Two of them may have been cassia and mace.
If you go to the grocery store looking for cinnamon, you may see cinnamon and a more expensive Ceylon cinnamon. The cheap cinnamon is actually cassia. Ceylon cinnamon is referred to as "true" cinnamon and has a milder scent and flavor. Ceylon is harvested from the soft inner bark of the cinnamon tree, while cassia comes from the outer bark.
The U.S. is one of only a handful of countries where it is legal to sell cassia under the name "cinnamon." Cassia contains more cinnamon oil than Ceylon which gives it a stronger odor, and is used in cinnamon scented candles and red hot candies.
Another spice that isn't used much today is mace. Mace is actually a part of nutmeg. Nutmeg became increasingly popular in the mid-1800s after the nutmeg tree was exported from the tiny Banda Islands in Indonesia to Grenada, making the spice cheaper and more widely available.
Nutmeg trees produce a fruit, and at the center is the seed (nutmeg) which is surrounded by a red lacy membrane (mace). Mace has a similar flavor to nutmeg but has a little more heat, like a pepper. Mace is still a component in modern pumpkin pie spice, but isn't generally called for in today's recipes.
If you are an avid vintage collector, you may come across spice jar sets that contain mace and cassia and now you'll know what they are!
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