History Of The Gum Industry

1848: John B. Curtis developed the first commercially available chewing gum

1891: Wrigley Company (USA) was established

1909: L.A. Dreyfus (USA) was established

1916: The Hershey Company enters the chewing gum business

1918: NACGM [National Association of Chewing Gum Manufacturers] (USA) established [1]

1919: Ford Gum & Machine (USA) established by Ford Mason

1921: Leaf Confectionery (USA) established

1926: Richardson Brands (USA) established

1928: Donruss (USA) established

1928: Fleer established Dubble Bubble, world's first bubble gum

1938: Topps (USA) established

1948: Maple Leaf (Holland) established

1953: Topps (USA) establishes the Bazooka bubble gum brand

1965: Damel (Spain) established

1975: Life Savers established Bubble Yum

1977: Bubblicious established

1979: Hubba Bubba established by Wrigley

1979: Bubble Yum launches a sugarless version

1980: Big League Chew launched by Wrigley

1983: Huhtamäki (Finland) creates the Leaf Group gum & candy business through the US acquisitions of Leaf Confectionery, Clark Gum, Richardson Brands and the Donruss division of General Mills

1985: Huhtamäki (Finland) acquires Ford Gum & Machine (USA)

1988: Bubble Tape created by Amurol subsidiary of Wrigley

1989: EACGI [European Association of the Chewing Gum Industry] (Belgium) established

1992: Fleer acquired by Marvel Entertainment(comics publisher)

1993: Cadbury (UK) buys its first chewing gum business with the acquisition of Stani (Argentina)

1995: Fleer shuts down its Philadelphia plant and moves its corporate office to suburban Mount Laurel, New Jersey

1996: Topps (USA) closes its bubble gum factories in Duryea, Pennsylvania (USA) and Innishmore (Ireland) and out-sources its Bazooka bubble gum production to Hersheys (USA)

1996: The Hershey Company (USA) acquires Leaf's gum brands: Rain-Blo and Super Bubble

1997: Huhtamäki (Finland) acquires the gum business of the Wuxi Leaf joint-venture in China

1998: Huhtamäki (Finland) divests the Leaf (Spain) gum business to Damel

1998: Concord Confections buys Dubble Bubble from Marvel Entertainment and moves operations to suburban Toronto

1999: Zed Gum (Ireland) is established

1999: CSM (Netherlands) buys the Leaf Europe candy and gum business from Huhtamäki (Finland) for €390 million

2000: Cadbury (UK) buys Kraft's "Hollywood" chewing gum business in France for €185 million

2000: The Hershey Company (USA) buys Fruit Stripe and Bubble Yum gum brands and mints from Nabisco (USA)

2000: Cadbury (UK) buys the small Wuxi Leaf gum business in China from Huhtamäki (Finland) for only €3 million

2000: Concord Confections partners with Wal-Mart and Children's Miracle Network to conduct a national bubble-blowing contest across America for children 12 and under(conducted annually until 2006)

2001: Perfetti (Italy) merges with Van Melle (Netherlands)

2002: Cadbury (UK) buys a 51% stake in the gum and candy business of Kent Gida (Turkey) for €110 million

2002: Zed Gum (Ireland) acquires Leaf (Ireland) from CSM and changes name to Zed Candy

2002: Cadbury (UK) buys Dandy's gum brands, mainly in Scandinavia & Russia for €310 million

2003: The Hershey Company (USA) sells Fruit Stripe, Rain-Blo and Super Bubble gum brands to Farley & Sathers Candy Co. (USA)

2003: Concord Confections (Canada) acquires Philadelphia Chewing Gum (USA) and moves production to suburban Toronto

2003: Cadbury (UK) buys the global gum business of the Adams gum division from Pfizer for $4.2 billion

2004: Wrigley Company (USA) buys the Joyco gum and candy business from Agrolimen (Spain) for $272 million

2004: Tootsie Roll Industries (USA) acquires Concord Confections (Canada) for $197 million

2005: ICGA [International Chewing Gum Association] (Belgium) established by the merger of the NACGM and EACGI [2]

2006: Cadbury (UK) invests €148 million to expand gum capacity in Poland and Mexico

2006: Cadbury (UK) buys the other 49% of Kent Gida (Turkey) for €80 million

2006: Perfetti Van Melle (Italy) buys candy and gum company Chupa Chups (Spain) for an estimated €400 million

2006: Zoft Gum Company (USA) established

 

Source: WikiPedia

Different Uses and Functionality of Gum

Listed below are the different types of gum, besides traditional chewing or bubble gum, and their function.

1. Antioxidant gum is usually made with green tea extract.
2. Breast enhancement gum claims to increase the size, shape, and firmness of female breasts.
3. Dental gum claims to whiten teeth, clean teeth, and freshen your breath. Chewing gum assists oral irrigation between and around the teeth, helping to clean and remove particles of food also using its sticky structure to grab on to any loose particles. However, for teeth in poor condition it may damage or remove loose fillings. It will also not replace regular brushing and flossing. Dental hygiene gum requires sugar-free ingredients. It has been reported that new versions are being researched by military forces, to assist field staff who need dental hygiene.
4. Diet gum claims to increase metabolism.
5. Energy gum also known as caffeinated gum, is used as a replacement for an energy drink or a cup of coffee. (A much more powerful gum also exists and is used for the military [citation needed]).
6. Thirst quenching gum is a type of gum that is used by athletes and those engaged in strenuous exercise when water is not readily available.
7. Herbal gum can contain any herbal remedy, such as: Echinacea, Ginseng, Guarana, etc.
8. Gum designed to enhance one's concentration and memory also exists.
9. Medicated gum can contain almost any type of medication as long as chewing gum as a means of delivery system is deemed appropriate for a particular type of medication. Some examples include:
10. Smoking cessation gum is designed especially for people who are trying to quit smoking. The gum contains a small amount of nicotine to combat cravings, and gives the former smoker a pastime other than holding a cigarette in his/her mouth. Nicorette was patented in 1972.
11. Viagra gum was patented in 2003 by Wrigley but with no plans to make it commercially available.
12. Dry mouth gum helps to further stimulate saliva production in people suffering from dry mouth.
13. Travel sickness gum promises to stop the nausea associated with motion sickness.
14. Antacid gum helps to settle an upset stomach.
15. Vitamin gum contains Vitamin C or a multivitamin and is often designed for use primarily by children.

16. Not to be left out; For Blowing Bubbles

Source: Wikipedia

Another Recipe to Make Bubble Gum

How to Make Bubble Gum

Materials Needed:

1 oz. package of bubble gum base
1 1/2 teaspoon of bubble gum flavor
1 cup of confection sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons of corn syrup

Instructions

1. The corn syrup should be liquified, put the bottle in a pot of hotwater to liquify it.

2. Put one cup of confection sugar in the microwave safe mixingbowl and make a crater in the center.

3. Empty the one oz. package of bubblegum base into the crater and put the bowl in the microwave on medium to medium high for 15 seconds. Press against the bubble gum with a wooden spoon. If the bubble gum is soft and mushy, remove it. If not, microwave it like before until it's soft and easy to mash with a wooden spoon.

4. When the base is soft, add 1 1/2 tablespoons of liquified corn syrup and heat again on medium high for another 15 seconds and remove from microwave.

5. Mix the bubble gum base, the corn syrup and the sugar until they are about halfway mixed together, then add 1/2 teaspoons of bubble gum flavor and continue mixing until it is blended together. When the mixture has cooled and it gets hard to stir, kead it with your hands until its consistently the same texture. Take a lump of some of the bubble gum and place it on a sheet of wax paper dusted with confection sugar.

6. Shape the bubble gum. You can flaten it with your hands or with a rolling pin and cut it to the shape you desire.

7. After you have cut the bubble gum let the bubble gum dry for one hour, then lightly dust each peice with confection sugar and store it in a air-tight container. If you want to you can wrap each piece of bubble gum individualy in wax paper instead of storing them in a container.

The bubble gum should stay fresh for about two weeks.
Have Fun.

How to Make Bubble Gum?

How To Make Your Own Bubble Gum

Most of us chew gum, but have you tried making your own chewing gum? Well here's your chance! The bubble gum made on the Heartland Science Lab contains a specially formulated starch-polymer gum base, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and artificial flavoring. These ingredients can be found in the Bubble Gum Kit .

Ingredients

Gum Base Pellets
Mixing Tool
Waxed Paper
Mixing Container
Corn Syrup
Powdered Sugar
Bubble Gum Flavor

Instructions

STEP 1: Unfold a piece of waxed paper. Use it to cover a cutting board, dinner plate, or a part of the kitchen table. Dump about half of the powdered sugar on to the waxed paper. Create a well in the pile of sugar to relieve the melted gum and syrup.

STEP 2: Empty the gum pellets into a mixing container, then the corn syrup, and finally the bubble gum flavoring. The pellets need to be melted in order to mix the sugar.

MICROWAVE METHOD
Place the gum pellets and corn syrup mixture into a microwave oven set on high for 10 seconds. If not melted try another 10 seconds and a third 10 seconds interval. By the third interval it should be melted. If not try a fourth 10 second interval. BE CAREFUL IT IS HOT! HANDLE ONLY WITH AN OVEN MITT!

STEP 3: Slowly add the hot mixture to the powdered sugar using the mixing tool. Work the gum into the sugar until it is all absorbed. Add more sugar as needed. When it is cool enough to handle you can knead it like bread dough. Keep adding sugar until it doesn't absorb anymore.

Source: Steve Spangler Science

More Bubble Gum Facts

Chewing Gum Facts

The difference between bubble gum and chewing gum is the gum base. Chewing gum base is a natural gum called chicle harvested from the sap of a tropical tree called a sopapilla tree. This kind of gum is chewy, but it will not blow a large bubble.

Bubble gum base, on the other hand, is a mixture of starches and polymers made in a laboratory and specially formulated to blow bubbles.

Believe it or not, chewing gum is actually beneficial. It relieves boredom, eases tension and aids in concentration. It also helps to pull food particles from between your teeth and even freshens breath.

A stick of gum containing sugar has about 10 calories compared to sugarless gum which has only 6 calories. Contrary to popular belief, swallowing gum will not do any harm.

Ancient Greeks chewed the gum of the Mastic tree. More than 1,000 years ago the native people of Central America and North America chewed the sap and resins found in trees.

Today, the United States is the world's leading manufacturer of gum. With all of this fascination with bubble gum, it only stands to reason that bubble gum was invented in 1928 by Walter Diemer, an accountant from Philadelphia.

Source: Steve Spangler Science

Bubble Gum Facts

Interesting Bubble Gum Facts

The average American chews around 300 sticks of gum in a year.

100,000 tons of bubble gum are chewed every year.

San Luis Obispo, California, USA is the home of Bubble Gum Alley, which is an alley with brick walls covered with ABC (already-been-chewed) bubble gum wads.

Richard Walker holds the record for the Chomp Title by chewing 135 sticks of bubble gum for 8 hours. The first person to win the 'Chomp Title' was Sue Jordan, who chewed eighty pieces of Doublemint gum for five hours and twelve minutes! Clyde Steward McGehee, of North Carolina, broke that record by chewing 105 sticks of Juicy Fruit for six hours and Richard Walker broke that record by chewing 135 sticks of gum for eight hours.

The Topps company holds the record for having made the largest single piece of bubble gum. It equaled 10,000 pieces of normal-sized Bazooka.Topps presented the gum to baseball player Willie Mays in 1974. Mays then cut it into small chunks and gave it to children in nearby hospitals.

Bubble Yum bubblegum is the Official Gum of Major League Baseball.

In 1928 the first successful bubble gum was invented.The first known bubble gum, "Blibber Blubber," appeared in 1906. It failed to catch on because it was too sticky and too brittle so it didn't hold together when it was chewed.The first successful bubblegum was invented by Walter E. Diemer in the summerof 1928. A 23-year-old accountant who knew nothing about chemistry, Diemer created his invention in a tiny laboratory in Philadelphia. The only food coloring he had on hand was pink. "It was an accident," Mr. Diemer said in an interview with The Lancaster Intelligencer Journal in 1996. "I was doing something else and ended up with something with bubbles."

Susan Montgomery Williams is the Guinness Record Holder of the Worlds Largest Gum Bubble. It was 23 inches big.

Bubble Gum Blowing

How to blow a big bubble?

It starts with chewing around 4-5 pieces. It also helps if you add some peanut butter because it helps keeps the bubble gum together. Next, you want to chew the gum at least 3-5 minutes to make sure all the sugar is dissolved. Sugar causes your bubble to pop early. So, after all the sugar is out of the gum than its time to blow a bubble.

First, flatten the bubble gum between the roof of your mouth and your tongue. Than slowly blow and blow until a big bubble forms. And there you have it.

Be careful not to let it pop all over your face. We all know how messy bubblegum is. If you get bubblegum in your hair. Peanut butter works wonders to get it out.

Bubble gum Fact: The worlds record for the largest bubblegum bubble is 23 inches blown by Susan Montgomery Williams of Fresno, CA