How to Make Mastic Syrup
What is Mastic Syrup
Mastic Syrup is a simple syrup made with a sweetener, mastiha, and sometimes citrus. It’s one of those ingredients that is not commonly utilized, but when it is, dishes are transformed from good to an unexpected sort of phenomenality. Take Greek Baklava, for example. Most recipes call for a simple syrup made with either honey or sugar and some sort of citrus. It’s delicious, but with the simple addition of mastic tears, you will capture the essence of traditional Greek Pastries and add an element of piney freshness that will certainly draw out the “oohs” and “ahs” with every bite.
Making Simple Syrup with Mastic Tears
Simple syrup isn’t hard to make. In its most basic form, it is nearly equal parts water and sugar, heated until the sugar dissolves and a the liquid thickens. The same process is followed for making mastic syrup, but there is an extra step that requires a little advanced preparation
Mastic tears are formed from resinous tree sap from a specific type of evergreen. In its solidified form, it will crunch when bitten, but the warmth will soon turn it to gum. Trying to grind it from room temperature will produce similar results, because the grinding will warm it and make it sticky. For this reason, the mastic tears need to frozen ahead of time. Once frozen, you can grind them with a couple of teaspoons of sugar using a mortar and pestle.
Citrus is optional in mastic syrup, but the pine flavor from the mastiha plays really well with the acidity and essence of orange or lemon.
Mastic Simple Syrup
Ingredients:
- 2 ¼ cups water
- 2 ¼ cups honey
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon mastic tears
- Optional, 3/4 cup orange juice or 5-10 drops of food-grade orange essential oil
Procedure
- Freeze your mastic tears ahead of time.
- Add 2 teaspoons of sugar and the frozen mastic tiers into a mortar. Use a pestle to grind into a fine powder.
- Bring the water to a boil.
- Add the honey and the ground mastic powder to the water and stir to incorporate.
- If you are adding orange juice, now is the time to ad that as well
- Lower the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- If you are adding orange essential oil, wait until the syrup has cooled slightly and stir it in.
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