Mastic (Mastiha) substitute

Substitutes for Mastic (Mastiha) with ratios

1. 2Ground cardamom with a little lemon zest

   Different taste

   Use ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom plus ½ teaspoon grated lemon zest for every ¼ teaspoon ground mastic

   A pantry blend that supplies the bright, slightly camphorous aroma and cool lift that mastic gives a dough or a custard.

   What changes

   Best for

   sweet breads, milk puddings, ice cream, loukoumi, rice pudding

   Nobody will mistake it for mastic. Cardamom is spicier and more floral and the lemon zest supplies the cool top note, so the result reads as fragrant and aromatic rather than piney. It does keep the dish from tasting plain, which is the real risk when you drop mastic and add nothing.

2. 3Gum tragacanth or xanthan gum (texture only)

   Different taste

   ⅛ teaspoon per quart of ice cream base, or ¼ teaspoon gum tragacanth per quart

   Neutral thickening gums that reproduce the elastic, slightly chewy pull mastic gives Greek and Turkish ice cream.

   What changes

   Best for

   kaimaki ice cream, stretchy Turkish-style ice cream, milk puddings

   These add body and stretch and absolutely no flavour, so use them together with an aroma from one of the options above. Start small and whisk into the cold base before churning. Too much gum and the ice cream goes from pleasantly chewy to gluey, and there is no way to fix it once frozen.

3. 4Mastiha liqueur (Chios mastic liqueur)

   Different texture

   Use ½ to 1 teaspoon liqueur for every ¼ teaspoon ground mastic

   A sweet Greek liqueur flavoured with the same resin, which many people already own even when they cannot buy the tears.

   What changes

   Best for

   ice cream, syrups, custards, loukoumi, cakes, cocktails

   The only option here that actually tastes of mastic. It brings sugar and alcohol along with it, so reduce other liquid slightly and add it off the heat so the aroma is not driven off. It cannot give the chew, and it is too wet to work in a stiff bread dough without adjusting the flour.

4. 5Juniper berries, very lightly crushed

   Different taste

   Use 1 crushed berry for every ¼ teaspoon ground mastic, and no more

   The closest common pantry item to mastic's resinous pine character.

   What changes

   Best for

   savoury breads, meat rubs, brines, savoury baking

   Only for savoury cooking, and only in a trace amount. Juniper is sharper, more gin-like and much more penetrating than mastic, and it turns medicinal in dairy. Do not put it in ice cream or a sweet bread.

5. 6Leave it out

   Different taste

   Omit entirely

   The honest answer for most recipes where mastic is one of several aromatics.

   What changes

   Best for

   tsoureki, cookies, cakes, puddings, breads

   Mastic is usually a quarter to a half teaspoon in a whole batch. Losing it makes the dish plainer and slightly less mysterious, and in a tsoureki it takes away the cool resinous note in the background, but the bread still rises, tastes good and is recognisably itself. This is far better than doubling up on almond extract and ending up with something that tastes like marzipan.