Chewing Gum

First Mention: Ancient Greeks

Use: Stress Relief, diet control, tooth decay, habit, etc

Chewing gum has surprisingly been a companion of man since the Ancient Greeks who have been recorded to chew on the resin of the mastic tree. Independently from these, the ancient Maya were known to chew chicle, a sap from the sapodilla tree, and the North American Indians were believed to have chewed on the sap from spruce trees.

As soon as the American settlers came, they adopted the habit from the Native Americans and added beeswax to the spruce sap. It was not until 1848 when John B Curtis started selling spruce gum. He quickly followed up on his success and in 1850, he came out with the more popular flavored spruce sap gum.

What followed was a birth to a new industry, the chewing gum industry. In 1869, William Finley Semple was the first to patent a chewing gum – US Patent 98304. At the same time, a  man known as Thomas Adam was experimenting with chicle from Mexican sapodilla trees. He tried making a cheap rubber for tires, toys, cards, and related items. Unfortunately, or fortunately none of these worked until one day Adams had the bright idea of taking a taste of some of the excess chicle. He was hooked on the flavor and began manufacturing gum. Later in 1880, John Colgan invented a way to make chewing gum retain its flavor for a longer time – the holy grail of al chewing gum companies.

Later in 1899, Dentyne gum was created by a New York druggist, Franklin Canning, and in 1914, Wringley Doublemint brand was created by William Wringley Jr and Henry Fleer. These two were also responsible for adding mint and fruit extracts to their gum.

So who knew the sugary gum we all enjoy today could have ended up as spare rubber tires if it was not for Adams gustatory curiosity.