Today’s Spotlight is on Bubble gum.

Chewing gum is a soft, cohesive substance designed to be chewed without being swallowed. Modern chewing gum is composed of gum base, sweeteners, softeners/plasticizers, flavors, colors, and, typically, a hard or powdered polyol coating.

Bubble gum is a type of chewing gum, designed to be inflated out of the mouth as a bubble. Bubble gum is a sweet substance. The generic bubblegum flavor is usually made from a unique blend of esters. Chewing gum is essentially plastic and rubber. A key ingredient in most chewing gums is polyvinyl acetate (plastic).

 

History

The American Indians chewed resin made from the sap of spruce trees. The New England settlers picked up this practice, and in 1848, John B. Curtis developed and sold the first commercial chewing gum called The State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum.

There are a couple of folks who take credit for the invention of bubble gum:

• Frank Fleer experimented with many gum ingredients in the early 1900s to find the perfect bubble gum recipe. Thomas Adams, a scientist and inventor, developed bubble gum with flavor. His first two flavors were black licorice and tutti frutti.
• Bubble Gum was invented in 1928 by Walter Diemer. Diemer accidentally created a less sticky and more flexible formula than other chewing gums. This formula allowed chewers to make bubbles.

 

Here are some fun facts about chewing gum:

• The oldest piece of chewing gum is 9,000 years old.
• The average person chews over 300 sticks of gum each year.
• The most expensive chewing gum ever listed on eBay was $14,000.
• Iran is the country that chews the most chewing gum.
• Chewing gum can help you stay alert and eliminate nausea.
• The Aztecs had rules about the social acceptability of chewing gum. Only kids and single women were allowed to chew it in public.
• Constant chewing can lead to jaw problems, like TMJ disorder. The sugar content in chewing gum can also contribute to tooth decay and even gum disease.

Chewing gum is one of the oldest candies in the world. The Mayans and Aztecs were the first to exploit the positive properties of gum. They used chicle, a natural tree gum, as a base for making a gum-like substance and to stick objects together in everyday use.

Here are some fun facts about bubble gum:

• The first bubble gum was invented in 1928 by Walter Diemer, an accountant at the Fleer Company.
• The first bubble gum was called Blibber Blubber and was invented in 1906 by Frank Henry Fleer.
• The first successful bubble gum was pink because pink was the only food coloring available in the Fleer factory.
• The original recipe produced a dingy gray colored gum, so Diemer added red dye (diluted to pink).
• The largest bubble ever blown was 23 inches in diameter. The record was set on July 19, 1994, by Susan Montgomery Williams of Fresno, California.
• The most expensive chewing gum ever listed on eBay was $14,000.

 

Here is a recipe for homemade bubble gum for you to try:

Bubble Gum Ingredients:

• 100g (½ cup + 1 tbsp) Gum Base
• 100g (¼ cup + 2 tbsp + 2 tsp) Glucose DE42 Syrup
• 85g (5 tbsp + 2 tsp) Glucose DE42 Powder
• 15g (1 tbsp) Water
• 1 Dram Bubble Gum Flavor Drops
• 4g (¾ tsp) Vegetable Oil
• 300g (2 cups) Powdered Sugar
• 5 drops Red Food Coloring
• Sugar Free Spearmint Gum:
• 100g (½ cup + 1 tbsp) Gum Base
• 100g (¾ cup) Sorbitol Syrup
• 85g (5 tbsp + 2 tsp) Sorbitol
• 15g (1 tbsp) Water
• 1 Dram Spearmint Flavor Drops
• 5g (½ tsp) Vegetable Oil
• 400g (2 cups) Sorbitol
• 5 Drops Green or Blue Food Coloring

 

Instructions:

Create DE42 Syrup

1. To make your syrup, mix together the Glucose DE 42 (sorbitol if making sugar free) and water.
2. Heat the mixture in a small pot over a low flame until all the sweetener has dissolved into the water.

 

Mix Gum Base

1. To make the gum, add the syrup to the gum base in a disposable container. The gum mixture is extremely sticky. It WILL ruin any bowl and utensil you place it in.
2. Add the vegetable oil and flavor drops.
3. Heat in 15 second increments in a microwave until the gums base has melted completely.
4. Use the skewer to whip the gum base until it has formed a smooth sticky mass.

 

Mix in Sugar

1. Pour this into a bowl that has either powdered sugar or sorbitol (if making sugar free gum).
2. If you are making fruit flavored gum add the fructose and citric acid at this point.
3. Fold and knead the gum and sweetener for 5 minutes or until it has absorbed most of the sweetener.
4. If you are making Popping Root Beer Gum, then add Culinary Crystals at this point.

 

Knead and Cut Gum

1. Place the gum on a work surface that has been dusted in powdered sugar or sorbitol.
2. Roll out the gum using a rolling pin. If the gum is too sticky place, it back in the bowl with more powdered sugar and continue kneading.
3. Roll the gum to your desired thickness. ⅛ inch thick sheets of gum are what we like when making a classic stick of gum.
4. Cut the gum into the desired shapes and store them in an airtight container.
5. Enjoy!

 

Consumption

More than 100,000 tons of chewing gum are consumed every year. The global chewing gum market is worth around US$19 billion a year. The average American chews 1.8 pounds of gum every year.

Here are some other chewing gum statistics:

• 374 trillion sticks of chewing gum are made every year.
• 187 billion hours of gum-chewing if each piece of gum is chewed for 30 minutes.
• 160–180 sticks per person in America.
• 75% of the population between 8-15 chews bubble gum.
• People who chew bubble gum chew an average of two sticks per day.

The global bubble gum market achieved USD 2926.67 Million in 2022. It is projected to attain the valuation of USD 3580.92 Million throughout the forecast period.

 

Celebrating Bubble Gum

Here are some bubble gum holidays:

• Bubble Gum Day – Celebrated on the first Friday of February, this day is a fun way to chew your favorite bubble gum, blow bubbles, and raise money.
• National Bubble Gum Day – This day is February 2, 2024. Children’s book author Ruth Spiro created this day in 2006 as a way for kids to raise money for school activities. On this day, kids can “buy” the privilege of chewing gum in class by donating 50 cents.
• Bubble Gum Week – This celebration takes place during the second week of March. In 2024, it will be from March 10 to 16.
• National Chewing Gum Day – This day is on September 30. It honors the history of chewing gum, from ancient civilizations chewing tree sap to the modern-day fusion of gum base, sweeteners, and flavorings.

 

Let us know in the comments your favorite bubble gum story.