23 Α feast of flavour Pafos gum (Pafitiki pissa) Pafos gumis produced from the resin of tremithos tree (Pistacia atlantica subsp. Cypricola) which is considered endemic in Cyprus. It is hard, with the distinctively strong taste of resin. History: The fruit of tremithos, themastic-producing tree, has been traced in prehistorical settlements of the 6th, 3rd and 2nd millennium BC (i.e. in Kissonerga). Also, Dioskourides, (1st c. AD) refers to the Cypriot resin, as well as to the “terminthos” tree. According to a traveler of more recent years, Giovani Mariti, who had lived on the island between 1760-1767 AD, during that particular period Cyprus’ tremithos-gum was collected mainly in Pafos and was highly regarded, especially in Venice. Lemba, that used to be aTurkish-Cypriot village, was the production centre for Pafos gum. It was also produced in the neighbouring villages of Tala and Kissonerga, where the tremithos tree grew. The main gum producers were Turkish Cypriots. After the intercommunal problems of 1963, the Turkish Cypriots’ departure from these villages, in combination with the reduction in the number of tremithos trees, caused gum production in the area to cease. Today, resin is imported. The production centre for Pafos gum is Geroskipou, where one can find small factories still largely following the traditional production method. Production method: After resin is collected from the trees, it is filtered very slowly (1–2 days) through thyme branches and the “trimintina” is collected. The trimintina is heated until liquefied and is again filtered through a cloth into a container with cold water, so as to cool and allow manual handling. Afterwards, the trimintina is manually treated piece by piece, stretched and folded for about half an hour, until it turns from yellow to white. The gum pieces are then placed on a clean cloth for 24 hours to cool and dry and are wrapped in paper (Rizopoulou– Igoumenidou, 2008). Gastronomy: Used exclusively for chewing.
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