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Showing posts from November, 2010

Mastiha Pumpkin Spice Soup - Κολοκυθόσουπα με Μαστίχα

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An exotic twist to my mother's pumpkin soup recipe. Makes for a rich and inspiring autumn dish that will leave you feeling warm and satisfied, physically and intellectually. Mastic (or Mastiha) Pumpkin Spice Soup for autumn lunch. Click to Enlarge. It is exciting times on the Greek culinary front. The Greeks are re-discovering one of their ancient aromatics, the rarest spice on the planet: mastiha (mastic). As exciting a development as this may be, it is a situation fraught with gastronomic risks. In the drive to incorporate mastiha into a “Greek” cooking palette and create new taste sensations, there have been some interesting offerings coming out of test kitchens all over the planet. Working the resin, mastiha, into a dish is not an easy thing. One must be familiar with the flavour of the aromatic and that takes practice. It is a good idea to buy the raw resin crystals and chew them to acquire the scent. When you do, you will realize it is a challenging flavour to incorpo