There's no such thing as Italian Champagne

Greco Gum and getting the details wrong

When slinging a product, there are certain details you just gotta get right.

Take mastic gum sellers Greco Gum.

Mastic gum has shot up in popularity online… but it’s not anything like that chewy junk you drop some coins on in your local 7/11.

Instead, mastic gum is the raw and natural resin from the mastic tree. It’s a single ingredient product.

This special gum is cultivated on the Greek Island of Chios in the Aegean Sea. They’ve been making it there for millennia. And only mastic gum that comes from Chios can be called mastic gum.

This is because of the European Protected Designation of Origin system. Under this system, a product can only carry a certain name if it’s made in a specific geographical location, meeting quality standards and using local traditional methods.

It’s a little bit like copyright.

Champagne can only come from the Champagne region of France. Other places in the world can (try) make similar styled sparkling wines but they can’t call ‘em Champagne.

So it is with Mastic.

Chios is the only place with the variety of Pistacia lentiscus var chia tree combined with a microclimate and volcanic soil that allows for the farming of the resin in commercial quantities.

And Chios mastic gum has a load of beneficial properties too including for gut health, oral health and jaw maxxing.

It’s a unique piece of nature’s bounty.

So, when I signed up to Greco’s email list I was surprised by the second email they sent me.

Mediterranean?

The Island of Chios is not in the Mediterranean Sea. It’s in the Aegean Sea.

Greco Gum is big on pushing the fact that they get legit mastic of the highest quality. And so they should.

But they’re shaping themselves up as silly buggers. When location is this central to a product you can’t mess up.

Imagine someone trying to sling Champagne. And they’re talking about Champagne from Italy? They’d be laughed out of the room.