New Additons:Mastihashop Brings The Greek IslesTo The Lower East Side

We were almost going to scold the newly opened Mastihashop on Orchard Street for propping their door open on a supremely muggy day, wasting precious air conditioning, until we walked in and discovered that they had no air conditioning at all, creating a different sort of problem.
Yes, it was a humid, but illuminating few moments we spent inside the tidy new shop as the benefits of mastiha (pronounced mahs-TEEKH-hah) were explained to us. The resin from trees found on the Greek island of Chios was, among other things, the first chewing gum. It can be purchased in its original form at the shop, though it is mostly used as an ingredient in an intriguing variety of items sold there ranging from pasta sauces to toothpaste and beauty and home products.
Mastiha, we are told, is a natural antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial substance with a pungent aroma that can translate into a bracing, ginger-ish flavor in foods, or it did in the cookie we tasted. Unfortunately, in chewing gum, the flavor lasted only the duration of couple of block's walk, but it was delightful while it lasted,and we are sure that we are still feeling its therapeutic effects as we type this.
Though small, Mastihashop carries a broad range of products, many under its own label, and almost all including the precious ingredient. Given the current fascination with natural and homeopathic remedies, we expect it to catch on, assuming the humidity breaks.
Part of a chain of ten stores, this is the first location outside of Greece. We would imagine that on Mykonos, or Chios, the Aegean breezes keep everyone comfortable, but unfortunately, those breezes do not quite reach to Orchard Street.
Mastihashop 145 Orchard Street between Stanton & Rivington Streets, Lower East Side