Text: Natalia Remmer MASTICA - RESIN OF THE ETERNAL GREEN PISTACHIO TREE - FROM ETERNAL TIMES, KNOWN FOR ITS USEFUL PROPERTIES. Despite the fact that the only place it grows on the planet is the Greek island of Chios, in the Middle East this gift of nature has always been extremely popular and has already been pretty much done.
During the Ottoman rule, the palette was worth its weight in gold. For her theft, they were sentenced to the most severe punishment.
The first mention of the mastic is found in Egyptian sources dating from the VI century BC. e. At the Memphis and Alexandria Spice Bazaars, healing resin was sold along with natural values such as frankincense and myrrh. In the Middle East, the "tears of Chios" were widely used in traditional medicine, in ancient Greece as an antidote to snakebite, in the provinces of the Roman Empire for long-term storage of wine, and in the harems of the Ottoman sultans as chewing gum. In Arab homes, jugs for drinking water fumigated her smoke to give her a pleasant aroma.
For many years, mastic is also used in cooking. To enhance the taste, the resin is added to baking as a spice, to ice cream - to give it a stiffness, as well as to chocolate and a variety of creams. Using the product is still considered a luxury, because it is rather difficult to obtain, and the cost of a kilogram of mastic is more than US $ 300. In addition, you need to be very careful not to get a fake: in the Arab world, mastic is often mixed with resin called "loban" mined in Iran and Oman, having a similar taste, but not possessing valuable beneficial properties.
In Dubai, many sweets with the addition of a palette knife from the island of Chios can be tasted in the Mastihashop cafe in Jumeirah 1.
