Journal · Notes from Alaçatı
Mastic in Çeşme: mastic ice cream in Alaçatı and a taste to take home
Çeşme mastic is the resin of a tree we share with Chios across the strait; it is gathered in late summer and turns up in Alaçatı in ice cream, milk pudding, cookies and coffee.
Mastic is the resin of the mastic tree, which the Çeşme Peninsula shares with the Greek island of Chios across the strait. In Alaçatı you taste it most easily in mastic ice cream, mastic milk pudding (sakızlı muhallebi), cookies and coffee. The resin seeps from small cuts made in July and is picked up drop by drop in September, and the cleaning and sorting go on into autumn. Since 2024, "Çeşme Damla Sakızı" has been a registered geographical indication in Turkey. It is one of the lightest souvenirs you can pack.
Growers say this kind of tree grows mainly on Chios and on the Çeşme Peninsula. For a long time it was half forgotten, and now it is being planted again. In August 2026 the local press reported that about 40,000 trees had been planted under the project, with thousands of saplings still waiting in pots for land. Some are planted on public green spaces under an agreement with the municipality. Çeşme Municipality holds its "Çeşme'den Sakız Damlıyor" (Mastic Drips from Çeşme) harvest at the mastic tree garden in Alaçatı Sakızlar. We are always glad to see those low young trees along the peninsula roads.
Gathering mastic takes patience. The ground under each tree is cleared and covered with a white layer of lime. Small cuts are made just under the bark of the trunk and branches. The resin drips down, then dries and crystallises in the Çeşme wind. Women pick the drops from the ground one by one and later sort them with tools that look like needles and hooks. The timing changes from year to year: in 2025 the cuts were made in the first week of July, and the harvest began in the first week of September because of the risk of rain. The mastic was expected to be ready by late November.
Across the water on Chios, the same craft has been on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list since 2014. There too, women sweep and clean the ground around the trunks in mid-June, and the bark is cut from July. It is the same tree, the same wind and the same patience on both shores of the strait, and that makes these small drops feel more precious to us.
The taste is resinous, a little like pine, and cool. GoTürkiye describes mastic ice cream and Alaçatı's own mastic milk pudding as light desserts made with milk, without eggs or cream. It also says old-fashioned pastry shops are known for their mastic ice cream, and people still queue at the small patisseries on Çeşme's main shopping street. In Alaçati you will find mastic cookies and Turkish coffee with mastic at bakeries and cafés. Which places are open changes between the season and winter.
To take some home, look for mastic sold as drops and ask for "Çeşme Damla Sakızı". It takes up very little space and keeps you company in the kitchen for a long time. If you add it to a milk pudding at home, start with a little, because too much makes the flavour heavy. A spoonful can bring back an Alaçatı autumn evening from far away.