also know as the greek vanilla since it used to
flavor the deserts in greece before the
fabulous vanilla appear in the picture.
Personally although I don ‘t want to get into
the game of supporting one versus the other,
but I just think that mastic is more versatile
and can substitute vanilla in 90% of the
deserts. A different taste, but equally tasty.
It was used since the ancient times, for
various applications mainly for the hygiene of
the mouth. Currently the market is flooded with
pills, mouth wash, gum and palms that carry as
basic ingredient the masticha resin. So much
that is actually easier to find the masticha
products than the masticha itself.
Masticha
is the resin that is coming out of the
trunk of the Pistacia lentiscus tree. The
tears of the tree as the locals refer to
them. It is a semitransparent resin, that
is very brittle but when mixed with small
amounts of water becomes gummy and
opaque. It is very strange, but
although the tree is very common in all
Mediterranean area the tree “tears” only
on the island of Chios the only place it
is produced. Many attempts were made to
produce masticha in other places including
United States, but they all failed. It is
actually said that it was one of the
spices Columbus wanted to discover in the
new land. He was at the island of Chios
the years 1473 and 1474 and he was amazed
by the tastes of liqueur and the gum the
locals were using. So when he arrived at
the newly discovered land he smelled the
Pistacia lentiscus trees and he hoped he
found another source of spice.
Unfortunately all his attempts failed.
Although the masticha trees were refered
by Herodotus as early as 5th century B.C.
there is no known myth relating to the
product. My personal guess would be that
the remote location of the island, and the
very limited production did not made
possible the spread of the spice to the
rest of Greece. There is, however, one
myth related to masticha from the more
recent history. In 250 A.D., when the
Romans occupants of the island tortured
and beheaded St. Isidoros, according to
the legend, the trees start shading their
tears touched by his drama.
The collection is a very tedious and time
consuming process, requires year around
tree care and is highly regulating from the
Greek legislation (one of the few things that
does). It starts in winter by pruning the tree
to increasing the space between the remaining
brunches. The early summer days the ground
under the trees is cleaned throughly and every
little stone, rock and broken brunch is
removed. Then with brooms (usually handmade by
cutting bushes) the area is cleaned by the
dusty soil and a thin layer of calcium
carbonate is placed and it is pressed to become
cohesive and solid. It is used to prevent the
masticha from sticking to the ground. If the
resin was falling on the regular reddish soil
it would immediately be spoiled. From early
June till end of September (both are dates
defined by the respective the Greek
legislation) the tree poking takes palce. The
men (it is the tradition) will use a specially
shaped knife to make small incisions 4-5 mm
deep (1/8’&rsquo😉 and about 10-15 mm long
(1/3’&rsquo😉. The resin will start oozing
out and dripping on the ground or beads up
on the surface of the trunk. The first
collection is done on August 15, when in
Greece is celebrated the resurrection of
Santa Maria (Madonna) in order to take her
blessings. The trees can live for very
long but the most productive years are
from 5 to 70 years old. Depending on the
tree size and age it can be poked up to
100 times. The last poking however happens
during the end of September, and the
collection of the resin beads ends in
middle October or with the first Autumn
rain. After the bigger pieces are hand
collected by and from the ground and the
trunks, the carbonate is collected and
sifted through a strainer. The cleaning is
a very tedious process and takes many
months after the collections is over.
Masticha contains masticin oil (2%),
masticinic acids (4%), crystalline masticinic
acid (0.5%), mastionic acid (38%), masticoresin
(50%) and 5 % impurities. It easily dissolved
in alcohol and that ‘s why it is so popular and
easy to make the liqueur that is produced by
the dissolving masticha in alcohol (recipe
given later). Some of the aforementioned
ingredients recently have been link with
antiseptic and disinfecting properties which
explains the large spread of masticha for
therapeutic application during the ancient
times.
Traditionally masticha is used in pastry where
the aroma is unmatchable strong and it does not
leave after taste. I will give here however the
liqueur recipe that I love. I have not tried
that myself but a family friend makes it and it
is amazing, over ice in a hot summer day.
-
4 cups of
water -
6 1/2 cups
of sugar -
1 tbsp of
corn syrup -
4 cups of
95 proof alcohol (really good vodka 45-48%
alcohol) -
5 gr of
masticha (this is actually up to you)
Bring the
water, the sugar and the corn syrup to a boil
to dissolve the sugar and cook for 10 minutes
to make a syrup. Let cool at least to room
temperature. The meantime add the masticha in
the alcohol and dissolve it. You don ‘t really
have to do anything. Just wait and it will
dissolve. At this point if you think you want
more flavor add more according to your taste.
Let it for a while till all the impurities in
masticha settle and then strain it through a
double cheese cloth. After the syrup is cooled
add it slowly to the alcohol and stir to
dissolve it. Do not add all the syrup. Adjust
it, to your liking. I want mine sweet but not
very much. Let it in a dark place for a month,
although it can be consumed within a week. But
the longer you store it the more mellow the
flavors become.
Enjoy a spice (or a flavoring to be more
precise) from the heart of Greece. A flavor
that is more Greek that the parthenon and the
Olympus mountain. A flavor that is to every
Greek the smell of home. You can find it on
many retailers on line but make sure it is from
the island of Chios. Sorry… It cannot be from
anywhere else.
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