The act of chewing gum has been around for hundreds of years as the ancient Greeks used to chew mastiche, the resin from the mastic tree, while the ancient Mayans chewed chicle made from the sap of the sapodilla tree. The North American Indians chewed sap from spruce trees and it was this that led to the invention of chewing gum as we know it today.

The Indians passed the habit on to the early settlers in America and from that various incarnations were created, including one made from beeswax. However, the first commercial form of chewing gum hit the market in 1848. Sold by John B. Curtis it was called State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum.

The first patent for chewing gum was filed by William Finley Semple in 1848 and just two years later John Curtis started selling paraffin flavoured gum. However, the man credited with inventing today’s nice tasting chewing gum is Thomas Adams.

He was introduced to chicle in 1869 and in 1871 he patented a machine for the manufacture of gum. By 1888 his gum, now called Tutti Frutti, was being sold in vending machines in the likes of New York City subway stations.

Some 30 years later William Wrigley Jr and Henry Fleer created Wrigley Doublemint, adding mint and fruit extracts to chicle and thus what we now recognise as ‘proper’ chewing gum and a huge industry was born.

There are hundreds of brands of chewing and bubble gum around today. Wrigley is probably the most well known brand and their range of gums is now extensive. All different flavours of gum are now available all over the world.

There are different kinds of mint flavours such as peppermint and spearmint which provide a freshness when chewed. One of the most popular of these, outside or Wrigley, is Winterfresh Gum, sold in its thousands to teenagers in the US.

Completely different flavours have been introduced alongside mint-based ones, such as the cinnamon flavoured Big Red Gum, also popular in American, though with an older demographic.

It is in the area of bubble gum, however, that experimenting with different flavours has really taken off. Invented in 1906 by Frank Fleer, bubble gum is a slightly thicker form of gum that allows the chewer to, unsurprisingly, blow bubbles with it.

Flavours of bubble gum are generally fruit based and include strawberry, raspberry, peach, cherry and orange amongst many more. Some less obvious flavours now include cola, cream soda, licorice, salty licorice and chocolate strawberry.

There can be no doubt that more and more exotic flavours will come to the market for both chewing gum and bubble gum in the near future!

Interestingly, there are now several drinks that claim to be bubble gum flavoured (Jones Soda for example) – but what is bubble gum flavour when all bubble gum is flavoured AS something else? It’s a curious one!

From its humble beginnings in ancient Greek and the ancient Mayan cultures, chewing gum is now a multimillion dollar industry and one of the most popular pastimes of Americans and Europeans and people all over the world.

Author Bio: Ben Greenwood is writingon behalf of American Soda, importers of a wide range of American foods and drinks, including Winterfresh Gum and Big Red Gum.

Category: Business
Keywords: chewing gum, bubble gum, chewing gum flavors, bubble gum flavors