Greek Recipes

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...

From time to time, I like to mix a reflection or two in among my Greek food recipes. Today’s topic is one that really tickles my fancy. As far as spices go, there is surely none more unique or rarer than the mastic resin from the Greek island of Chios, reputed birthplace of the poet Homer. Pure mastic resin "tears" - Click to Enlarge Image. Mastic (or ‘masticha’ as we say in Greek, pronounced “mahs-TEE-ha”) is a resin produced by an evergreen shrub, Pistacia lentiscus , which is related to the pistachio tree. The word 'mastic' is derived from the ancient Greek verb ‘ mastikhein ’ which means “to chew”. The English word “masticate” (to chew) is derived from this root as well. While the mastic shrub, also known as skhinos in Greek or lentisk in English, does grow elsewhere in the Mediterranean region, the mastic spice resin is only produced in the plots of the Mastic-Villages or Mastichochoria (Μαστιχοχώρια) in the southern end of Chios. It is believed that u...