Real vs Fake Mastic Gum: How to Tell the Difference

Real mastic gum is raw resin from the mastic trees of Chios, Greece, and nothing else. Plenty of products say mastic on the label but are regular gum with mastic flavoring, or contain only a trace of resin. Five checks tell them apart.

1. Read the ingredient list

Real mastic has one ingredient: mastic resin. Flavored mastic adds a coating. If the list starts with gum base, sweeteners or sugar alcohols, you are buying regular gum with a mastic flavor.

2. Look at it

Real mastic comes as irregular tears, pale yellow to translucent, no two the same shape. Uniform pellets, sticks or slabs are manufactured gum.

3. Check the origin

Nearly all genuine mastic comes from southern Chios. A real product names the island. No origin on the label is a red flag.

4. Feel the chew

A cold tear of real mastic is brittle and can crumble. It softens after 20 to 30 seconds in your mouth and turns into a firm chew with a piney, slightly bitter flavor. Gum that is soft and sweet from the first bite is not raw resin.

5. Sanity-check the price

Every tear is harvested and cleaned by hand, once a year, on one island. Mastic priced like drugstore gum almost certainly is not real resin.

What about mastic capsules?

Capsules and extracts are a different product. They are not chewing gum and do not give you the chew.

Where Gum of Gods comes from

Single origin Chios mastiha, sourced direct from the growers cooperative. The Classic Pack is raw resin with nothing added. Want to see the difference for yourself? Start with the Sample Pack.