Product knowledge
Why Is Arabic Ice Cream Stretchy and Chewy?
Arabic ice cream — booza — gets its signature stretch and chew from two traditional ingredients worked into the base: mastic resin, which adds an elastic, gum-like pull, and sahlab, a starch that thickens the mix and helps prevent ice crystals from forming. The traditional hand-pounding method used to churn it plays an equally large role, working air out of the mix rather than whipping air in, which is the opposite of how most Western ice cream is made.
Mastic: the resin behind the pull
Mastic is a natural resin traditionally tapped from the mastic tree, grown almost exclusively on the Greek island of Chios, and used across the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East both as a chewing resin on its own and as a flavouring and texturising agent in food. Ground into a booza base, mastic's naturally gummy, elastic structure is what gives the finished ice cream its taffy-like stretch when a spoon pulls through it — a texture no amount of churning alone can produce. El Captain Gum (Natural Mastic Chewing Gum) is the same family of resin, sold as a standalone chew rather than a baking ingredient.
Sahlab: the starch that holds it together
Sahlab, traditionally a flour milled from dried orchid tubers, is the second key ingredient — its natural mucilage thickens the ice cream base and interferes with ice crystal formation, giving booza a dense, chewy body instead of the light, airy texture typical of Western-style ice cream. Commercial and modern versions sometimes substitute a cornstarch-based stabiliser for true orchid sahlab, but the functional role in the recipe stays the same: thickening and texture control, not flavour.
The pounding method matters as much as the ingredients
Traditional booza makers churn the mix by hand, working it with long-handled paddles in a chilled vat rather than beating air into it the way a Western ice cream machine does. Western ice cream typically has a significant amount of air whipped in — what the trade calls overrun — which makes it light and soft; booza is deliberately worked to keep air out, producing a denser, chewier scoop that holds its shape and stretch even as it starts to melt.
Where mastic fits in a Levantine dessert program
For kitchens building their own booza or milk-pudding program, mastic and sahlab are the two ingredients to source, alongside the wider context covered in Arabic gum and mastic: resins of the eastern kitchen. Mastic resin is naturally slow to lose quality if kept dry and sealed — see does mastic gum expire for storage guidance — which makes it practical to keep on hand in a dessert kitchen's pantry alongside the rest of our pantry staples range.
Related questions
What makes booza different from regular ice cream?
Two traditional ingredients — mastic resin for elasticity and sahlab starch for a dense, chew-resistant body — plus a hand-pounding method that works air out of the mix instead of whipping it in, the opposite approach to most Western ice cream.
Where does the mastic in Arabic ice cream come from?
Traditionally from the mastic tree, cultivated almost exclusively on the Greek island of Chios; it's used both as a standalone chewing resin and as a flavouring and texturising ingredient in Levantine and Egyptian desserts.
Is sahlab always made from real orchid tubers?
Traditionally, yes, but many commercial versions today use a cornstarch-based stabiliser in its place — the texture role in the recipe is the same either way, thickening the base and limiting ice crystal formation.