Chewing Gum | What is gum made of?

Chewing gum can often be found waiting in the glove compartment of our car, or perhaps a carelessly discarded cud will end up stuck to the bottom of our shoe. But what is gum made of exactly?

The History of Chewing Gum

Gum is among the world’s oldest confections. In its earliest form, it was an elastic lump of tree resin that people chewed on for recreation. Most civilizations throughout history are known to have chewed some sort of gum. For instance, the Maya were known to chew on the sap of the sapodilla or chicozapote tree and in Ancient Greece, people chewed on the sap of the mastic tree. It is speculated that this practice has existed in different parts of the world since the Neolithic period.¹

Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, a Mexican politician who was exiled to the United States is said to have brought with him something called chicle - a resin derived from the Sapodilla tree, traditionally chewed by Native Americans.¹ Around this time, American consumers were familiar with chewing gum made from paraffin wax.² Inventor and businessman Thomas Adams discovered that heating chicle with sugar and flavouring agents yielded a gum that tasted better than the paraffin-based ones.² Adams later went on to get a patent for a gum manufacturing machine and founded Adams Sons & Co. in the 1870s.² During World War II, American soldiers introduced this commercially manufactured, chicle-based chewing gum to other parts of the world.¹

What is chewing gum made of now?

Over the years, manufacturers replaced chicle with other substances that were easier to procure. Modern-day chewing gum is made from  4 main ingredients: ³

1. Gum base,
2. Sweeteners,
3. Flavouring agents, and
4. Food-grade colours.

The gum base is the non-nutritive, insoluble base of chewing gum. Gum bases can be made of both, natural and synthetic materials. Most countries around the world have regulations that decide which substances are permissible and which ones are not.³

What sweeteners are used in chewing gum?

Chewing gum sweeteners can be divided into three types.³ The first kind is nutritive sweeteners, aka: plain old sugars. The second type is sugar alcohols which provide sweetness, but without calories. The third kind of sweeteners are ‘intense sweeteners’ such as aspartame. These ‘intense sweeteners’ are calorie-free synthetic substances that provide sweetness at a far more concentrated level than nutritive sweeteners or sugar alcohol.

How is Chewing Gum Made?

The production process to make chewing gum involves melting the gum base ingredients together, followed by mixing in the other ingredients. The mixture is then extruded, shaped, conditioned to achieve the desired texture, cooled and eventually wrapped.³

Today's gum comes in various products like bubble gum, pellets, and strips, with some brands also offering unique forms, such as tubes or pieces tailored to fit different tastes and purposes. The manufacturing process has been fine-tuned to deliver gum that holds flavour longer, has improved mouthfeel, and retains elasticity.