Talk:Pistacia lentiscus

Tree

Mastic tree only grows in Chios island and only in 'Mastichohoria' which are located in the southern part of the island. You can find it nowhere else in the world. This is a fact. I don;t know where you got this information about "Mediterranean region from Morocco and Iberia east to Greece and Turkey". This is not true.Petogamosayros

See for example Germplasm Resources Information Network or Greuter, Burdet & Long (1984), Med-Checklist – A critical inventory of vascular plants of the circum-Mediterranean countries. Or any other standard flora of the region. - MPF 18:06, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

Ok. I did some more research and here is the outcome. Mastic tree is native throughout "Mediterranean region from Morocco and Iberia east to Greece and Turkey". But there is a catch. Mastic, the actual valuable resin itself, can be extracted only from the mastic tree that grows in southern Chios. Nowhere else. Not even in northern part of Chios (and I tell you it's not a big island). You can find all the references you want at [1]. You can't buy mastic from Spain, or Turkey or Crete (which is also in Greece), because there is no mastic produced there (not just because Chios Mastic production is granted protected designation of origin (PDO) and a protected geographical indication (PGI) name). Petogamosayros

Three things: first, isn't the lack of broader geographical sources a result of it being granted the PDO, and not any actual difference in the plant across the range? I gather you COULD extract mastic resin from mastic trees across the whole range, but simply not legally sell it under that name unless it is from the Mastic Producing Villages (as mentioned in article). Perhaps that has kept it from being profitable to extract from other regions. Secondly, and more importantly, could someone please offer a description of what it tastes and smells like? All this just has me more curious, yet doesn't touch on the single most important question when discussing food stuffs: what it is like to eat! Used in sweets just doesn't tell anything about the flavor. Is there anything it can be compared to, perhaps a combination of other flavors or something it is in the same family of flavors as? I'd appreciate any additional information. Lastly, how is this related to mastic adhesive, as used for tile etc.? -Fitzhugh 10:23, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

I do not understand why it can only be extracted there other than potentially legal reasons? The article claims that "Although the tree is native to all of the Mediterranean region, it will release its resin only on selected places, most notably, around Cesme, Turkey and in the southern portion of the Greek island of Chios", however neither of the sources quoted (I ran it by my turkish buddy because one of them is in turkish) mentions it. It seems very unlikely given how plants work and what resin is. And as someone else already said - the resin of pistacia lentiscus (probably different variety than Chia) is produced without issue in India, as well as, for example, Ethiopia (probably a different variety to these two as well but not necessarily).

It seems to me like one of these made up claims based simply on tradition or corrupted from "it is only harvested there" to "it can only be harvested there" (because legal protections or whatever) to "it can only be released there". Nobody provides any chemical or biological explanation, I found a paper with chemical analysis of a mastic™ of Chios sample and I'm gonna try to do my best to confront it with whatever I can find on chemical composition of resin from the mastic tree grown elsewhere. Sleipur (talk) 20:48, 13 January 2024 (UTC)

No one ever answered the question of taste? It was mentioned briefly in the Suzanne Sommers book on aging for the relief of acid reflux, and recently spelled mastica gum on Mercola. I am wondering more about it. Has anyone tasted it?````Charfair

Initially, the resin has a brittle texture as you bite into it (the first few bites seem like you are biting into dirt/sand), but quickly takes on the consistency of chewing gum, albeit not as springy as normal gum. The taste is relatively earthy at the beginning, however, after those few bites, the pleasant mastic flavour is released and becomes more and more pronounced as you chew. It is somewhat bland compared to normal over-the-counter chewing gum, though (unlike chewing gum, it is not sweetened). Dragases 10:09, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

A much cheaper Mastic is available from India, which has a much stronger, cleaner taste as well as a nice greener color. In my opinion, I find it superior to the Greek variety which tends to lack taste.24.6.22.199 (talk) —Preceding undated comment was added at 19:54, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

Sentence Fragments Bolded

There were several sentence fragments in the article that appeared to be intended as subheadings; I have bolded them. Bill Jefferys 23:25, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

this page is inaccurate, mastic is not useful unless it is from chios. It has been tried time after time to make use of it elsewhere but simple not possible because the "tears" that drip from the tree after being scraped do not dry. Mastic is very valuable and expensive and it has been attempted to make use of by planting it in other places but is not possible. And as far as not being allowed to sell it, that is not the reason because morocco and turkey are not in the EU.

Balm of Gilead

Under Balm of Gilead (disambiguation), several trees are mentioned, none of which is this one. What is the reference for that? LachlanA 04:57, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

Is Chios the only place in the world where the resin is harvested?--Kayboldum01 10:28, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

Mastic

Mastic is the resin that is extracted from Pistacia lentiscus var. Chia not from any Pistacia lentiscus. The article is general for Pistacia lentiscus and the above distinction should be made clear. --kupirijo (talk) 23:27, 27 July 2009 (UTC)

Mastic (resin)

the Value "Mastic (resin)" should be about parted !. I have a lot more to write about it, I began to write this value be separated. the Value " Mastic " should to be independent and separate entry!. in hebrew Wikipedia did not know about this thing becous there are not such word like this in hebrew and it is listed as "other name" in " ancient Hebrew ". I decided to write a whole big article on him, I have a lot of things you can add it shaharmos (talk) 12:10, 22 February 2010 (UTC)

Fruit diameter

The page says that the fruit is 4 mm in diameter. Should that be the thickness of the fleshy part of the fruit? The diameter of the whole fruit must be at least 2 cm. Nadiatalent (talk) 14:58, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

The fruit size of 4mm including the fleshy part is approximately 4mm and it does turn from red to black (or at least a very dark purple) when ripe. Also the leaves which are described as paripinnate in the article may be paripinnate or imparipinnate on the same specimen. I have original photos taken in Crete to illustrate this but as I am new to editing I am wary of changing the article without first discussing it. Steve Daniels, Crete (talk) 05:54, 3 November 2012 (UTC)Steve daniels, Crete 05.53, 03 November 2012 (UTC)

The fruit is very small. About 4mm is correct. The related pistachio has much larger fruit, about 1 cm, and is actually grown for the fruit, but even that is quite small compared with other edible nuts. Andrew Dalby 18:55, 9 March 2018 (UTC)