The Mastic Tree - Il Lentisco 0 Comments

The Lentisk is a vigorous evergreen plant typical of the Mediterranean Scrub, it adapts to arid conditions, to any type of soil, favoring sandy ones and desires light. It resists the strongest winds of Sardinia but fears the cold. It lives up to 400-500 meters above sea level.

It can be up to 8 meters tall (but on average varies between 3 and 4) and has a scaly, ash bark. It is a dioecious species, that is, it can have either only male flowers (red-brown in color) or only female flowers (green in color). It has a round crown with resinous-scented leaves. The fruit is a small round or ovoid drupe, 4-5 mm in size, red at first and turning black as it ripens in winter. It is identified in Sardinian with various names: chessa, modditzi, lintiscu, lentiscu, lontiscu.

The lentisk is part of the island's history and is a plant that never ceases to amaze. According to the archaeologist Giovanni Lilliu this oil was used in Sardinia already during the Nuragic era and this is proved by a tub of calcareous marl, i.e. a sedimentary rock, , found in a cavity of “Su Nuraxi in Barumini”, suitable for the lentisk fruits’s maceration.

They produced it by extracting from its berries an edible oil (in Sardinian ollu and stincu) very common on less wealthy families’ tables, replacing the more expensive olive oil. The mastic drupes, after harvesting, were washed and immersed in boiling water inside a tinned copper container (su cradaxis) and boiled for about 15 minutes. They were then poured into a jute bag (sa sacchitta de linu de aulla) and squeezed (sa cracadura) with the feet or with a millstone.

The extract obtained was filtered with linen cloth (sciammadura), and then boiled again to eliminate the acid and astringent component.  The oil thus obtained was light yellow with a strong savor and aroma typical of the Mediterranean scrub. It was used to fry, season, rub wounds, relieve burning or bruises, fuel oil lamps, while the bark was used as a healing agent and decoctions were prepared with the leaves. In the more recent past the trunk provided excellent charcoal, was used for burning in wood-burning ovens, scented and resistant in fireplaces with its compact embers. Thanks to the properties of the leaves, rich in tannin, it was used for tanning leather.

In 2016 the entrepreneur Andrea Deidda wants to resume such an excellent but today unknown product. He began producing oil, obtained by mechanically cold pressing the berries, and lentisk-based soap bars. It is a natural antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, astringent and healing, hydrating and nourishing.  Working with the Universities of Sardinia, it carries out research to refine and innovate products. A new one is lentisk mastic, obtained from the resin coming out when cutting the branches which, dissolved in pure turpentine, is also used as a varnish for ancient paintings’ restorations. Lentisk resin is also used in perfumery and dental technology. It is also applied in herbal medicine and in the perfume industry.

Its intake is certainly to be added to the 10 Healthy Foods From The "Blue Zone" Sardinia, where we write that Sardinia is one of the 5 areas in the world with the highest density of one hundred years old people, characterized by their lifestyle and by what they feed. Belonging to the food traditions of Sardinia, the lentisk is in fact one of the 10 Mediterranean Scrub’s Food Specialties.

“… We are the uninterrupted kingdom of the lentisk tree, of the waves that run down the ancient granites, of the dog rose, of the wind, of the immensity of the sea… We are Sardinians.” (attributed to Grazia Deledda)

Written by Daniela Toti