Chewing gum feels like a modern American habit: ballparks, road trips, the pack by the register. But the idea is much older than that, and one of its oldest chapters was written on a small island in the Aegean Sea.
The island of mastic
Chios sits just off the coast of Turkey, and its southern villages have grown mastic trees for centuries. The trees grow in other places too, but the resin from this corner of Chios is the one that became famous. Today "Chios mastic" is a protected name in the European Union, and in 2014 UNESCO added the island's traditional way of cultivating mastic to its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
A harvest done by hand
Not much about the harvest has changed. In summer, growers clear and level the ground under each tree, then make small cuts in the bark. Over the following weeks the resin drips out and hardens in the sun. Families collect the drops, then spend the fall and winter cleaning and sorting them piece by piece.
The original chewing gum
People in the ancient Mediterranean chewed mastic to freshen their breath, and writers of the time mention it by name. The word "masticate," to chew, comes from the same Greek root. For centuries mastic was one of the most prized goods of the eastern Mediterranean, traded across empires and flavoring everything from sweets to spirits.
Why we built Mastiqe around it
We wanted a gum that keeps that tradition and fits the way people live now. So we paired natural mastic with flavors Americans already love, left out the sugar, and packed it in a slim box that fits a pocket or a cup holder.
It is the same resin people have reached for after a meal for generations. It just travels a little farther now.
