Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Spice guide to Mastic along with all the Mastic containing recipes presented on this site, with 9 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain as a major flavouring.

Mastic is a hard, brittle resin obtained from Pistacia lentiscus an evergreen shrub or small tree that's a member of the Anacardiaceae (cashew) family. Pistacia lentiscus grows to some 3–4 m tall and is native throughout the Mediterranean region from Morocco and Iberia east to Syria and Israel and north to southern France and Greece; it is also native on the Canary Islands. Mastic resin is a relatively expensive kind of spice, used in liqueurs (eg Mastichato) and chewing gum pastiles. It is also a key ingredient in dondurma, a Turkish ice cream as well as many Turkish puddings and it's the use of mastic that grants those confection their unusual texture and bright whiteness.

Mastic resin is harvested by making many small incisions in the main branches of the tree so that the resin dirps down onto specially-prepared ground beneath the tree. The best period for harvesting is July and August. After the mastic is collected it is spread out to dry while it is washed manually.

In Egypt, mastic is used in the preparation of dishes ranging from soup to meat-based dishes to dessert. It is also chewed as a gum to sooth the stomach. In addition it is also an essential flavouring in the production of traditional Turkish Delight.