chewing gum mania

Chewing gum might not be a dessert but it is a tasty treat, which is nice after meals. It helps to leave your mouth feeling fresh and clean and it also tastes good. There are sugar-free versions, tooth-whitening versions and all kinds of fruit and mint flavors to choose from. Chewing and bubble gum are beloved treats to kids but how and when were these invented?

It might surprise you that it was chewed in the ancient times - not Wrigley Juice Fruit of course, but tree sap. People have always enjoyed chewing various substances like latex, resin, waxes, grains, leaves, and sweet grasses.

The ancient Mayans chewed chicle, which is sapodilla tree sap, and the ancient Greeks liked mastiche, which is mastic tree resin. Mastiche was popular with ancient Greek women who used it to sweeten their breath and clean their teeth. North American Indians were fond of chewing spruce tree sap and settlers soon picked up this habit, making a beeswax and spruce sap chew treat.

Commercial Gum Invention

The first commercial chicle was invented in 1848 by John B Curtis. He named it the State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum. Two years later, Curtis began to sell flavored paraffin snacks and these were more popular than the first product. William Finley Semple patented chicle in 1869.

When Thomas Adams first began experimenting with chicle in the late nineteenth century, he wanted to make synthetic rubber products with it. He tried to make masks, bicycle tires, rain boots and toys but none of these were successful.

He put a piece of the chicle in his mouth in 1869 and discovered that it tasted good. He then wondered what it would be like if he added flavor. This is when Adams opened the first gum factory in the world and the product went on sale for a penny apiece in drug stores in 1871. The new stage was the invention of Black Jack, a liquorice-flavored gum, but this was unable to maintain its flavor after being chewed. This was sold in a stick rather than as separate chunks.

Thomas Adams patented a gum-making machine in 1871 after being introduced to chicle two years earlier. Nine years after that, a method was discovered to keep the product tasting good, even after chewing it for some time. William White experimented with chicle flavors later and he added corn syrup and sugar to the mixture, discovering that this enabled the flavor to stay in the product as it remained in the mouth.

In 1888, a product called Tutti-Frutti was being sold in a vending machine in New York City subway station and eleven years later Dentyne chicle was created by a New York druggist.

The Creation of Bubble Gum

This was invented by Frank Fleer in 1906 and the first product was called Blibber-Blubber. This bubble blowing chew however never reached the stores. Wrigley Doublemint was invented in 1914 and Henry Fleer as well as William Wrigley Jr were responsible for adding the fruit and mint extracts to the product to make it taste better. The famous pink Double Bubble was created in 1928 by an employee of the Fleer company and this sweet treat has been gaining popularity ever since.