Gum is the oldest known piece of candy in the world. Many years ago archaeologists discovered that prehistoric men and women chewed on lumps of tree resin. This made them the first-ever gum chewers in recorded history. Research shows that they did this to clean their teeth or freshen their breath. They called this "mastiche."
Indians chewed on the sap from trees. The Maya Indians of Central America chewed on chicle, the sticky substance found inside a sapodilla tree. Early settlers bit into hardened tree sap and beeswax.
In the early 1880s, two brothers, Henry and Frank Fleer, began experimenting with chicle. They then put together a recipe for the world's first bubble gum, originally called "Blibber Blubber Bubble Gum." Unfortunately for them the recipe never took off.In 1848, another group of brothers,The Curtis brothers, were working on the same product in Maine. The brothers were the first ones in to sell chewing gum in History. They sold it for a penny for two hunks. In 1850, the brothers worked on the recipe and made some changes. After that they opened up a manufacturing plant called, the Curtis Chewing Gum Factory.
After a while, another man named Thomas Adams started experimenting with gum also. Adams came up with another first of its kind: Flavored gum, after adding licorice flavoring to his recipe and naming his product, "Black Jack." Black Jack was not sold in chunks, but in stick form, and the public went wild!
Later, a druggist from Kentucky had the idea to add sugar to the gum and was credited with making chewing gum a sweeter treat when, in 1880. Now, there has been many different kinds of gum and is very popular.Some Fun Facts About Gum:The average American chews over 300 sticks of gum each year.In the early 1860s, doctors advised patients to stop chewing gum, often telling patients it would cause their intestines to stick together.Over $2 billion of gum is sold in the United States each year.While the sale of chocolates and other candies has gone up and down over time, the sale of gum has always remained strong.Most gum is purchased between Halloween and Christmas.Today, almost all gum is made by machine.
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