Ever since we heard that Fainting Goat Gelato (1903 45th St) was planning to buy local, Washington goat’s milk to make goat milk gelato (in addition to the organic cow’s milk gelato they sell now), we’ve been in there at least twice a week to pester the Yalcin family: “Do you have goat’s milk yet?”, “How about now?”, “Yet?”
While we were interested in goat milk gelato because of its kindness to the lactose intolerant, we were also just curious about the flavor. We’d tried goat milk butter, and it had a complex, chevre-cheese like flavor. What would goat milk gelato taste like?
Sadly, we were told “No”, “not yet” and “no, still not yet”. Apparently, getting sufficient quantities of organic, local goat’s milk is not as easy as cow’s milk: the goats want it for their kids, so we had to wait until the spring kids were weaned.
Well, we just got this note from Alev Seymen, daughter of Yalcin and Sevim, the owners:
We are making our first batch of goat milk gelato today! I just came back from Turkey with mastic which we added to it to create a traditional Aegean See Region flavor!!!
Hooray! The goat milk gelato is here, and they have mastic!
Wait, what’s mastic?
Fortunately, Alev provided a clue: “For more info on mastic look it up on wikipedia”. We did:
[It] is harvested as a spice from the cultivated mastic trees grown in the south of the Greek island of Chios in the Aegean Sea, where it is also known by the name “Chios Tears”. Originally liquid, it is sun dried into drops of hard, brittle, translucent resin. …The flavour can be described as a strong slightly smoky, resiny aroma and can be an acquired taste….
Pistacia lentiscus (Mastic) is an evergreen shrub … of the Pistacio family growing up to 4 m (13 ft) tall which is cultivated for its aromatic resin, mainly on the Greek island of Chios. It is native throughout the Mediterranean region…
Culinary uses
… As a spice, it continues to be used in Greece to flavour spirits and liquors … chewing gum and a number of cakes, pastries, spoon sweets and desserts. Sometimes it is even used in making cheese. Mastic resin is a key ingredient in Dondurma (Turkish ice cream), and Turkish puddings granting those confections its unusual texture and bright whiteness. …
Medicinal uses
Mastic resin is also chewed as a gum to soothe the stomach. People in the Mediterranean region have used mastic as a medicine for gastrointestinal ailments for several thousand years. …
Regular consumption of mastic has been proven to absorb cholesterol, thus easing high blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart attacks. Mastic oil also has anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties, and as such is widely used in the preparation of ointments for skin disorders and afflictions. …
In ancient Jewish halachic sources, it is indicated that chewing mastic was a treatment for bad breath. “Mastic is not chewed on shabbat. When (is it not permissible to chew mastic on shabbat)? When the intention is medicinal. If it is against a bad odor, it is permissible.”
Tastes good, soothes the stomach, absorbs cholesterol, eases high blood pressure, and cures bad breath? And it’s in gelato? IN!