Kathryn Meltzer, age 12, of Cleveland, Ohio, for her question:

WHERE DOES NUTMEG COME FROM?

Nutmeg is the kernel of a tropical fruit which is widely used as a spice. It grows on a tree that originally was found only in the Molucca Islands, or Spice Islands, but is now successfully raised in all of the East Indies, the West Indies, Bra

zil, India and Sri Lanka.

When the fruit is ripe, it looks like a golden yellow pear hanging among shiny, gray green leaves. The tree grows to be 70 feet high and it is an evergreen.

Nutmeg trees do not bear until they are about nine years old. Each tree produces from 1,500 to 2,000 nuts each year. The fleshy part of the fruit is often preserved and eaten like candy. A clear oil, called oil of mace, is made from the kernel.

As the fruit ripens, the fleshy part becomes rather hard, somewhat like candied fruit. It finally splits open at the top, showing a bright scarlet membrane, which partly covers the nut.

The spice mace comes from the membrane. The kernels are the familiar household nutmegs.