Something to Spice It Up

Object: Spice Grater, 1790-1850

Accession #: 2005.0016

Spices were available to a certain extent in 18th century coastal cities and were sold whole to be cracked or ground at home. Ground spices would lose their aroma before being received by the consumer which is why they were sold whole. A spice grater, like this one found at Wilton, would have been used to grate the whole spices and could have been kept in one of the Randolph’s pockets for use. This one is free formed and punched from iron alloy sheet metal. According to one historian, “Spices were highly valued commodities in 18th century America—vital to food preparation, essential as preservatives of food and prized as medicines.” The search for better routes to the “spice rich lands of the East” is what motivated many of the explorations including Christopher Columbus’ voyage. The particular spice this grater is made for is nutmeg.

Described by one historian as the “quintessential spice”, nutmeg is the kernel of the apricot-like fruit of the tree Myristica fragrans and the soft membranous coat that covers its hard seed case is the spice, mace. These two spices were imported from the Spice Islands with clove. The desire of clove, mace, and nutmeg drove exploration to the original source of these spices which were islands on the Moluccan Sea. In a book written in 1880 called Medicinal Plants; being descriptions with original figures of the principal plants employed in medicine and an account of the characters, properties, and uses of their parts and products of medicinal value by Robert Bentley and Henry Trimen, nutmeg is mentioned as being “used with advantage in mild cases of diarrhea, flatulent colic, and certain forms of dyspepsia…” Spices such as nutmeg were used in food and nutmeg graters were produced beginning in the late 17th century with the growing popularity of serving punch: a brew of rum or brandy, fruit juice, sugar, and water laced with nutmeg and sugar.

Nutmeg Grater, Case and Cover
Acc#: 1968-72, A-B
1708-1708; Maker: Alexander Hudson
DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum

Graters were made of all shapes and sizes, some made suitable for carrying in the pocket and also fitted in a box to hold the nutmeg once grated. The availability of small graters, like this one, “eased [the] preparation” of punch. By the end of the seventeenth century one historian points out that “for fashionable Britons on both sides of the Atlantic, the drinking of warm beverages (coffee, tea, and chocolate), the adopting of polite dining practices in the French mode, and the serving of punch became highly organized social rituals”. The Randolphs would have kept up with these latest fashions and were served beverage cold this time of the year to combat the summer heat. 

Punch, as one historian asserts, “became the most popular mixed alcoholic drink of the 18th century.” This same historian discovered that William Byrd II of Westover Plantation wrote in his Natural History of Virginia, published in 1737, about the process of making punch. Byrd attests that “after which one has a very pleasant drink” and also recorded in his diary, November 16, 1737, while in London about being given a nutmeg grater as a gift. A member of the Randolph family would have been able to afford a fancier nutmeg grater than this one, possible made of silver (see above image) that fitted in a cylindrical box but that served the same purpose.

Bibliography

Davis, John D. The Robert and Meredith Green Collection of Silver Nutmeg Graters.

Googlebooks.com. 23 May 2013. <http://books.google.com/books?id=tD6zzh7Xfv4C&pg=PA8&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false

Earle, Alice Morse. Home Life in Colonial Days. GoogleBooks.com. 23 May 2013.

<http://books.google.com/books?id=B2RWAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA158&lpg=PA158&dq=Colonial+Spice+Grater&source=bl&ots=qfcCMSquUA&sig=13WkMrpMsUdvwUDRA3x6ut5Nels&hl=en&sa=X&ei=NxfDUZLOM_ay4AO5yIGwDg&ved=0CFgQ6AEwCDgK#v=onepage&q=the%20table%20at%20meal-times%2C%20and%20the%20tiny%20ornamental%20graters%20which%20were%20carried%20in%20the%20pocket.&f=false>

“Nutmeg and Mace”. UCLA: History and Special Collections, Louise M. Darling Biomedical

Library. 18 May 2013. <http://unitproj.library.ucla.edu/biomed/spice/index.cfm?displayID=19>

“Spices in Early America: A Bicentennial Report”. Times Daily. 10 December 1974. Google

news. 18 May 2013.

<http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1842&dat=19741210&id=6v4rAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pccEAAAAIBAJ&pg=730,2825345>

“Nutmeg Graters”. ASCAS. 18 May 2013. <http://www.ascasonline.org/articolo11.html>.

Image Credit

http://emuseum.history.org/view/objects/asitem/search@/2/title-asc?t:state:flow=2118ed2f-282f-43d5-ba58-bdacffcc3ce0