Mélange Travel & Lifestyle Magazine APRIL 2019 | Page 294

Cocoa, Kuchela, and Nutmeg at the Belmont Estate by Shana Jones | Read her blog at www.roamingaviatrix.com A s the jeep stumbles along the uneven dirt road, I struggle to steady my camera. Everywhere, the scene is the same: thick, bright green foliage stretching upwards to embrace a warm afternoon sun. We stop to look at a funny- looking plant: a bulb covered in soft crimson needles. She crushes the delicate seeds between her fi ngers and they instantly turn blood-red. “It’s used for food colouring and lipstick”, she says. “She” is Shadel Nyack Compton, owner of Belmont Estate, a historic fully-functioning plantation in Grenada, and grandchild of the fi rst East Indians to own such a property on the island. The jeep stops again and my gaze wanders around our destination: a virtual Eden of nutmeg trees bearing the little yellow globes scarcely visible in all the greenery. Nutmeg is the major export of Grenada, the “Spice Isle”, and Belmont’s grounds yield plenty. “No”, says Mr. Williams, an Estate employee, “Like this. Move this hand further up.” We are standing beneath a leafy canopy of nutmeg trees deep inside the plantation grounds, he positioning my hands on a long bamboo pole and me twitching under the silent attack of an invisible sandfl y army. The pole’s two-pronged tip is for plucking nutmegs from the branches overhead, but the art of it eludes me. Mr. Williams laughingly takes the stick and plops a few to the ground with a quick tug. My eyes light up at the striking contrast between the dull yellow outer fruit and brilliant red mace wrapped around the dark brown nutmeg shell; at that very moment, the sweet, gentle aroma rises to envelop us, and I remember that people actually use nutmeg shells to aromatize their gardens. Harvested nutmegs are sent to the island’s processing facilities and eventually shipped to other countries or converted into an array of products from muscle relaxers to condiments. PC Frederick Christian Opening a nutmeg for the fi rst time