Mace will substitute for nutmeg in most sweet dishes, but it is mostly used to flavour savoury sauces, meat, pickles, and chutneys. Use whole blades to infuse pale creams and clear broths where flecks of grated nutmeg are unwanted.
Peppery sabinene is less dominating in mace than in nutmeg and mace has more fragrant oils, with a wider diversity of perfumed compounds, including floral elemicin, which works in partnership with terpineol, and small amounts of eugenol and safrole. Mace lacks the mouth-puckering tannins of nutmeg, giving it a smoother mouthfeel.
