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How
the modern day gum developed
The history of the modern day chewing gum goes back to the
1860s, thanks to the experiments of an American inventor, Thomas Adams, Sr.
As it happened, around that time, some chicle
was brought form Mexico to the United States, with the idea of selling it as
a kind of rubber. Experimenting with the chicle, Adams found that it would
not harden. However, he did find that when boiled it made excellent chewing
gum. This gum soon replaced both the spruce gum and the paraffin gum. It was
in the year 1906 that bubble gum was first produced. However, the chewing
gum as we know it today was perfected and manufactured commercially almost
twenty-two years later.
It
was in the mid-twentieth century that sugar free gum came into the market. It
was believed that sugar free gum would be preferable to the regular one, as
the sugar posed a threat of tooth decay. Later, however, it was discovered
that the sugar in the gum separated from it and got washed away by the
saliva when chewed for a while.
How
chewing gum is made
Standard chewing gum consists of five basic
ingredients, namely gum base, sugar, corn syrup, softening agents and
flavoring agents. The gum base is what retains the “chewability” of the
gum. It does not dissolve when chewed. Besides, it acts as a base for the other ingredients. The gum base is
made from resin, latex or from any of the various kinds of waxes. Sugar is,
of course, added to sweeten the gum. Corn syrup is used to keep the gum
fresh and flexible. Corn syrup also helps sweeten the gum. Softening agents
such as vegetable oil help in blending the ingredients and add to the
softness of the gum by retaining the moisture. Flavorings are, needless to
say, added for precisely that – flavor. The preferred flavors are
spearmint and peppermint, fruits and spices.
Depending
upon the type of gum to be made, bubble gum, chewing gum or sugar free gum
etc., the manufacturing process is varied slightly. The general process
begins by preparing the gum base first. The ingredients are ground, melted
and purified. The next step is to blend all the ingredients together in
mixing machines. To make sugar free gum, sugar and corn syrup are left out
and natural sweeteners such as saccharin, sorbitol, mannitol or aspartame
are added.
The
ready gum is flattened into wide sheets by a series of rollers and finely
powdered sugar is sprinkled on the sheet to prevent it from sticking and to
provide the sweetness at the top layer. Scoring or cutting into pieces is
the next step. The gum is then cooled and hardened in special rooms, where
the levels of temperature and humidity are controlled. At the last stage,
high-speed machines wrap and package the gum. Chewing gum is available as
balls, pellets, sticks or chunks.
Chewing
gum and bubble gum
Have you ever wondered how chewing gum and bubble
gum are different? The difference between the two is that the gum base used
for bubble gum is firmer and more elastic. The elasticity allows the user to
blow gum bubbles.
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