[TRAVELS] Ghee Hup Nutmeg Factory / 山康摄影 @ Balik Pulau, Penang
During my past two trips to Penang last May, I had the opportunity to head to the Ghee Hup Nutmeg Factory located at Balik Pulau twice. Ryan and company were the ones who discovered this factory when we were driving aimlessly after our food hunt and I introduced it to Crystal on my second trip there.
Ghee Hup Nutmeg Factory / 山康摄影
MK 3, 202A, Sungai Pinang,
11000 Balik Pulau, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
016-433 6303
Although nutmeg did not originate in Penang, it started out as a spice plantations by the British East India Company in the 18th century. Currently, the production of nutmeg can only be found in a couple of small farms. We never thought that driving around aimlessly could lead us to one of the main nutmeg producers in Penang. The third picture shows the female nutmeg trees as male trees do not bear fruits, while the forth picture depicts a sprouting bud on the decade old nutmeg tree. If there is only one flower on the tree, the probability of bearing a fruit is 100% but if there are two flowers, there is only 50% chance of bearing fruits. As stated earlier, the female nutmeg tree will bear both flowers and fruits, while the male nutmeg tree remains as a tree but is able to fertilize the female trees. I was told by the person working at the factory that the nutmeg flowers can be mixed with hot water to ease gastric issues.
Mace and nutmeg derives from the same plant called Myristica fragrans. Mace is the dried covering of the seed’s shell while nutmeg is the dried, shelled seed of the plant. As you can see from the second picture, there are many stages in processing the nutmeg. The third picture shows the red aril covering the kernel called mace, whereas the forth picture portrays the mature brown nutmeg. The sun-drying process can be seen in the 5th and 6th pictures with the brown mature nutmegs and red arils of the mace.
While living in Vancouver for 7-8 years and Los Angeles for 6 months, I always thought that nutmeg was just a spice used for desserts and everything relating to Christmas. I never expected nutmeg to have so many uses and outputs until I went to the factory in Penang. I have always known tiger balm since birth but never nutmeg balm and nutmeg oil as depicted in the first two pictures. On my first visit, I did not purchase anything from the factory but I bought many bottles of nutmeg oil and nutmeg balm on my second visit. Nutmeg balm helps with the relief of minor skin itchiness, mosquito bites, throat irritation and headache and nutmeg oil assist to relieve minor sprains, burns, wounds, cramps, arthritic pain and rheumatism. My brother tried applying the nutmeg balm on his skin when he had mosquito bites and the itchiness was gone right after so I bought it for my close ex-colleagues who were going to work at Manila for over a month. We also managed to try free cups of nutmeg juice as shown in the third picture, which ease throat irritation, indigestion and cough. It also helps us to quench our thirst as Penang is so hot and humid in May. I did not buy any of the concentrated/diluted juices though as it was too sweet for my liking.
Price of 30gm of MACE Nutmeg Balm: RM9.00
Price of 60ml of Nutmeg Oil: RM16.00
If you ever thought that nutmeg was just a Christmas ingredient to delicious desserts and cookies, remove that thought, look no further and expand your knowledge of nutmeg at the nutmeg factory in Penang!
