Myristicin
Also written myristicine
Quick answer
The compound behind nutmeg’s warm, slightly narcotic smell, and the one responsible for the genuine and thoroughly unpleasant toxicity of nutmeg taken in quantity.
What it does
Myristicin contributes the warm, sweet, faintly musty depth that distinguishes nutmeg from the terpene freshness that surrounds it. It is not the whole of nutmeg’s smell — sabinene and pinene supply the piney top note, and mace leans further towards those — but it is the part that reads as heavy and characteristic. Parsley, unexpectedly, carries it too, in far smaller amounts.
How it behaves when cooked
Four properties of the molecule, and what they mean at the stove.
- Volatility
- moderate
- Fat solubility
- high
- Water solubility
- low
- Heat stability
- moderate
Nutmeg is grated to order in every tradition that uses it seriously, and the reason is the volatile fraction around the myristicin rather than the myristicin itself: pre-ground nutmeg loses its top notes within weeks and keeps a flat, heavy residue. Because the aromatics are fat-soluble, nutmeg belongs in dairy and butter preparations — béchamel, custard, spinach with cream — where it extracts and distributes, and it is largely wasted in a lean, watery dish. It is added late or off the heat, since a long simmer takes the fresh notes and leaves the heaviness.
Spices that carry it
Recorded on the compound rather than on each spice, so the two cannot disagree.
- NutmegMajor component
- Hoja santaContributing component
- MaceContributing component
The aril of the same fruit, carrying less myristicin and proportionally more of the lighter terpenes — which is exactly why mace is the more delicate of the two and not simply a weaker nutmeg.
- ParsleyPresent in small amounts
Not to be confused with
Compounds a reader is likely to take for this one, and why they differ.
Safrole
Structural relatives, both restricted, by different authorities and on different grounds. Neither restriction concerns culinary use of the spices that contain them.
Regulatory position
Held on the compound, because the restriction is a fact about the molecule rather than about any one spice.
European Union
limitedRegulation (EC) No 1334/2008
Myristicin is among the substances of toxicological concern for which the flavourings regulation sets maximum levels in compound foods to which flavourings or flavouring ingredients have been added. The instrument governs added flavourings; it sets no limit on the use of nutmeg as a spice.
Safety
What the concern is. The dose, the population and the evidence level live on the spice profiles, which is where a reader with that question actually arrives.
Nutmeg toxicity is real, well documented, and requires quantities far beyond any culinary use — the reported cases involve deliberate ingestion of whole nutmegs, and produce hours of severe and unpleasant effects rather than anything sought after. It is one of the few genuine dose-related toxicities in the spice cupboard and it is recorded on the nutmeg and mace profiles with the exposure stated. Nothing about it bears on grating nutmeg onto food.
Questions this page answers
- what is myristicin
- what does myristicin do
- which spices contain myristicin
- what is myristicine