Spice Necklace and Jameson

with a wee bit o' help from old Jameson....

Grenada, the spice island, has a charming souvenir that is sold along the beachs and market stalls.  Mostly local ladies carry, over their arms, strands of necklaces made from the spices that grow on the island.  Although each artisan may have their own style and variation on the aromatic 'gems', typically at the center or base is a pendant of nutmeg and mace. Often going up the , strand symmetricaly is ginger root, tumeric root, cloves, cocoa beans, cinnamon bark and folded bay leaves. 

Annatto Pod and seeds in Jameson Whiskey

Spice necklace

"These are not for the kitchen", warns Charlotte, the Grendian. "They are to put in your bathroom or bedroom, to make them smell good," she touts.  "But you could use them in the kitchen, right?"

"Oh yes" she affirms.  I suspect she takes this approach due to the fact that most people wouldn't know what to do with a nutmeg, much less mace, if their life depended upon it.  So … use it as an aromatic room freshener; everyone can understand that.

These spices will be used in my kitchen, especially the nutmeg.  Inside that dark brown shell, which is laced by the red aril of the mace, is the kernel of nutmeg which grated into vegetable dishes or added to baked goods or even topping a blended drink adds an exotic flavor to any dish.  But not too much!! Not only can it be cloying but is purported to be hallucinogenic in fairly low doses!  

On the next major island south of Grenada, Trinidad, we were introduced to a plant that was new to us, the Annatto or Bixa orellana shrub.  The orange red pigment of the seeds of this pod are used to color orange cheeses and other foods as well as being used traditionally by Amazonian tribes for ritual body marking.  Touching the red seed will stain the fingers which made me want to try it as a pigment for painting.

Experimenting with water, I wet the fresh red seeds but found that the pigment was resistant to water.  Next I tried alcohol and since the only alcohol I had in the house of any strentgh was Jamesen whiskey, I tried that next.  It worked much better than the water. It dissolved the pigment allowing me to paint directly onto my paper with the annatto dye.  

 I painted a collection of the plants of the Spice Necklace as subject,  using the annatto -- with a wee bit o' help from old Jameson. 

Spice Necklace painting.