Nutmeg: My Friend

     Nutmeg, as I've recently discovered, is quite utterly... delectable.  It's that magical flavor of November I've tried my whole life to replicate in my oatmeal, to no avail.  Cinnamon just doesn't cut it sometimes.  When I think of Autumn, Winter, comfort, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Christmas sweaters, other sweaters, or the warm glow of those idyllic houses in hallmark cards, snug in spite of the freezing weather,  I think of nutmeg.  So glad to have finally realized what was missing from the oatmeal, and next holiday season is sure to be well seasoned with the stuff.

      Funny how scents and smells can come to bring back so many memories, eh?

     But!  Not is all as it seems in the realm of herbs and spices.  It leads another life, deep in the underbelly of all that's aromatic and scrum-delicious.  There's a dark side to nutmeg.

 In large quantities it can, apparently, be toxic and cause adverse psychological effects.  From Wikipedia:

      "In low doses, nutmeg produces no noticeable physiological or neurological response, but in large doses, raw nutmeg has psychoactive effects. In its freshly ground (from whole nutmegs) form, nutmeg contains myristicin, a monoamine oxidase inhibitor and psychoactive substance. Myristicin poisoning can induce convulsions, palpitations, nausea, eventual dehydration, and generalized body pain. It is also reputed to be a strong deliriant.... In case reports intoxications with nutmeg had effects that varied from person to person, but were often reported to be an excited and confused state with headaches, nausea and dizziness, dry mouth, bloodshot eyes and memory disturbances. Nutmeg was also reported to induce hallucinogenic effects, such as visual distortions and paranoid ideation. In the reports nutmeg intoxication took several hours before maximum effect was reached. Effects and after-effects lasted up to several days."

"Myristicin poisoning is potentially deadly to some pets and livestock, and may be caused by culinary quantities of nutmeg harmless to humans. For this reason, it is recommended not to feed eggnog to dogs."

     So... in conclusion:  Everything is not always as it seems, moderation is a relatively good rule of thumb when it comes to anything, and don't give your eggnog to your dogs. =)