• Banana muffins do not require lots of spice.banana nut muffins image by Kathy Burns from Fotolia.com
  
  Baked goods infused with the essence of fruit are a household staple and range from cupcakes packed with plump blueberries to loaves of hot bread flecked with ripe raisins. The banana is not immune to this culinary chemistry, finding its way into pancakes, pies, bread and the popular, hearty banana muffin. And though the fresh, unmistakable taste of banana defines the muffin's character, it gets a little help from some common spices.
  
  

Cinnamon

• Cinnamon is a heavy-hitter in the baking world. Useful in any dish that calls for a sweet, aromatic flavor, this ground spice lends itself perfectly to the banana muffin. Culled from the bark of tropical trees, cinnamon sticks are ground into fine powders that impart a warm, delicate flavor to foods. The spice is used to "bridge" various flavors and was traditionally used in the middle ages to combine meat and fruit. It performs the same function in banana muffins, smoothing over the sharply different tastes of ripe banana and freshly baked flour so that the flavor is consistent.
  
  

Nutmeg

• Nutmeg, despite its moniker, is not a nut at all. It is large seed that can be directly ground into powdered nutmeg spice, a flavoring common in baking dishes. In banana muffins, nutmeg complements cinnamon in bridging the flavors of fruit and bread and also adds a bit of spice. Nutmeg enhances banana muffins by adding specks of dark brown color and a rich, aromatic fragrance synonymous with harvest-time baking. Its earthy flavor lends itself well to the tropical taste of banana.
  
  

Mace

• Another product of Myristica fragrans (the tree that bears the nutmeg seed), mace is a more delicate, fragrant alternative to traditional nutmeg. Derived from the soft seed covering of the nutmeg, mace contains a more powerful version of the warm spiciness and aroma of the powdered seed. Because it is lighter in color and more powerful than nutmeg, mace is useful in banana muffins that call for heavier breads, grains or bran to compensate for the heavy flavors of the bread. Because mace is more uncommon than nutmeg (one hundred pounds of nutmeg provides one pound of mace) it can be more expensive to use.