Collecting mastiche

Collecting mastiche

Greece
North Aegean Sea
Chios island

Collecting the mastiche in Chios island
Mastiche(masticha) is an aromatic resin collected from certain trees exclusively in the island of Chios and known as " tears of Chios". It is originally produced as a sap subsequently sundried into pieces of brittle transluscent resin that being chewed softens and becomes a white gum full of aromatic flavour.Mastiche is a world wide export of the island not only as a gum but also as the main ingredient in alcoholic drinks, in cooking recipies, sweets, cosmetic powders and creams, soaps and body oils and especially wide application in medicinal field since Greek antiquity by eminent doctors as Hippocrates, Dioscurides, Galenus and others. During the long period of Ottoman occupation the island enjoyed a certain degree of protected autonomy due to the special liking of the sultans for the mastiche. It is said that mastiche worth its weight in gold and the penalty for stealing it was execution.

The collection of the resin from the trees is a strenuous procedure and quite often the very sensitive trees suffer from awckward weather conditions that destroy the annual production. The islands mastiche production is controlled by a co-operative of the historic medieval villages commonly known as "mastichochoria"(mastiche villages), located mainly in south Chios.

The photo shows a woman in the course of collecting the sap from the tree. The harvest takes place begining of Jujly to begining of October. First the area around the tree is cleaned and sprinkled with inert calcium carbonate, then 5-10 incisions in a period of 4-5 days are made in the bark of each tree and the resin that flows solidifies on the ground and then collected. In addition also mastiche oil is produced.