You use all ground spices, can I use whole ones?I personally prefer to use spices that are ready-ground as this is easier. However, if you’ve got whole spices in the cupboard then it is possible to use these instead.NutmegWhole nutmeg grates finely very easily so it’s a simple substitution for ground nutmeg.You can either use a very fine grater, or pop the whole nutmeg into a spice grinder.Cinnamon and ClovesI find it harder to finely grind both cinnamon and cloves as the nature of them means that little shards tend to break off and don’t grind as finely.You can grind your cinnamon and cloves either using a spice grinder or pestle and mortar. For cloves in particular, I’d opt for using a pestle and mortar as I find that the flavour can penetrate the plastic lid of my spice grinder and linger even after a thorough washing. I’d also recommend passing the ground spices through a fine sieve to remove any larger pieces, regrinding these until they are fine enough to pass through.