Mastiha of Chios: Greece’s World-Unique Resin With Remarkable Health Benefits

1 week ago 54

Mastiha, often referred to arsenic the “Tears of Chios” oregon the “White Gold of Greece,” is simply a merchandise made exclusively connected the Greek land of Chios. Since antiquity, this sticky resin, which seeps from the bark of mastic trees, has been harvested not lone for its spirit but for its therapeutic value.

Although the mastic tree, besides called “lentisk,” is autochthonal to galore areas successful the Mediterranean, its bark lone “bleeds” mastic connected the land of Chios, making it a genuinely unsocial and astir miraculous product.

Mastic is utilized arsenic flavoring successful galore sweets and drinks, astir famously successful Mastiha, a digestive liquor from Chios. The mastic “tears,” oregon tiny bits of hardened histrion sap, tin besides beryllium chewed similar gum, a signifier dating backmost thousands of years. Its healing properties see prevention and attraction of tummy pains and gastric disorders and rejuvenation of the skin.

Mastic is utilized successful cultures passim the Mediterranean and Arab world, particularly successful Greek, Cypriot, Syrian, and Lebanese cuisine. The dispersed of mastic done the Mediterranean and Middle East is owed to commercialized routes which day backmost to the Byzantine era.

Its rarity has made mastic highly sought-after passim history. Even today, mastic is considered a precious commodity not to beryllium wasted. The European Union has designated it a “protected designation of origin” product, confirming that lone Chios tin nutrient authentic mastic.

In fact, immoderate effort astatine producing the resin extracurricular of the land implicit the years has wholly failed. Researchers judge that Chios simply makes for the cleanable operation of clime and ungraded conditions for the aromatic sap to beryllium produced.

During the Byzantine period, it was truthful cardinal to the system that villages successful Chios were heavy walled to support the island’s precious “white gold.”

Mastic accumulation shapes regular beingness successful Chios. In villages wherever the aromatic resin is produced, called “mastihohoria,” each of the residents partake successful the mentation of the product.

Preparation begins successful fall, erstwhile the histrion bark is scored by a needle-like tool. The mastic past seeps retired of the histrion similar tears arsenic the bark tries to “heal” itself.

This process of gathering mastic is specified an past contented that UNESCO placed it connected its “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity” database successful 2014.

Mastiha, oregon mastic, is an integral portion of beingness successful Chios

When the resin is dry, it is collected and taken backmost to the colony to beryllium cleaned. Women stitchery successful groups to cleanable the “tears” of brittle, cloudy resin one-by-one truthful they volition beryllium acceptable for processing.

In effect to drops successful mastic prices successful the nineteenth century, a cooperative called the Chios Gum Mastic Growers Association was formed. The relation ensures that the 2 100 families who beryllium connected mastic accumulation are not near unsupported successful lawsuit of hard harvest seasons, wildfires, oregon different unforeseeable events that could halt accumulation of the resin.

This conception of practice and interest for chap mastic-workers is indispensable to Chios and is typical of the island’s contented of moving unneurotic and supporting 1 another.

The product’s affluent past connected the land is celebrated successful Chios’s Mastic Museum, located successful the confederate portion astir associated with accumulation of the resin. In the museum, each of the stages of mastic postulation are explored, from the fields to the last stages of production.

Although astir fashionable successful the Mediterranean, the unsocial merchandise from Chios has present reached each corners of the world, adjacent South Korea and China.