What is chewing gum made from?

Answer 1

"How Gum is Made" from the National Association of Chewing Gum Manufacturers
http://www.nacgm.org/consumer/howmade.html
and from "How Stuff Works"
http://science.howstuffworks.com/question86.htm

From Wikipedia
"-------Chewing gum is a combination of a water-insoluble phase, known as gum base, and a water-soluble phase of sweeteners, flavoring and sometimes food coloring.

The approximate manufacturing methods are fairly constant between brands. The gum base is melted at a temperature of about 115 °C (240 °F), until it has the viscosity of thick maple syrup, and filtered through a fine mesh screen. Then it is further refined by separating dissolved particles in a centrifuge, and further filtered. Clear base, still hot and melted, is then put into mixing vats. Other ingredients that may be added include: powdered sugar, whose amount and grain size determines the brittleness of the result, corn syrup and/or glucose which serve as humectants, coat the sugar particles and stabilize their suspension, and keep the gum flexible, various softeners, food colorings, flavorings, preservatives and other additives.

The homogenized mixture is then poured onto cooling belts, and cooled with cold air. Extrusion, optionally rolling and cutting, and other mechanical shaping operations follow. The chunks of gum are then put aside to set for 24 to 48 hours.

Coated chewing gums then undergo other operations. The chunks are wrapped with optional undercoating for better binding with outer layers then immersed into liquid sugar. The pellets are then colored and coated with a suitable glazing agent, usually a wax.

Non-coated varieties are covered in sweetened marble dust to prevent the wrapper from sticking to the product....."

Full article here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chewing_gum#Composition_and_manufacture

Wrigleys Gum website http://www.wrigley.com/wrigley/index.asp
History of Chewing & Bubble Gum
http://inventors.about.com/od/gstartinventions/a/gum.htm

Great question - and fun to research - thanks!

Answer 2

Hi Daniel---Really need to see your dentist. It could well be the wisdom teeth coming in and if so, then you can have them pulled. Usually both sides are removed at the same time and sometimes even all 4 are done. Again, without being a professional, you may also want to have the dentist check to see if you have a gum infection. If so, you'll probably get some antibiotics. I hope you floss your teeth daily and brush 2ce a day. This really keeps cavities away.

Answer 3

Traditionally, it was made of chicle, a natural latex product, although for reasons of economy and quality many modern chewing gums use petroleum-based polymers instead of chicle. Chicle is nonetheless still the base of choice for some regional markets, such as in Japan. Glee Gum claims to be the last United States gum manufacturer to still use chicle.

Answer 4

Stop Infections Heal Teeth : http://DentalBook.uzaev.com/?PnFp

Answer 5

well depending on the gum.the altoid chewing gum is made by gum base,xylitol,isomalt,and other things like carnauba wax

Answer 6

Although chicle and other natural gums are still utilized by the chewing gum industry, some, because of ever-increasing demand, are being extended by man-made materials. These have proven beneficial in providing the high consistency of chewing quality that the industry prides itself for.

Corn syrup, sugar, and flavoring agents are later added to the gum base in the gum-making process. These agents are of the highest quality, produced under spotless, rigidly controlled laboratory conditions.

How are the base, sugar, flavoring and synthetic materials combined to make the various kinds of chewing gums one buys at candy stores and other retail outlets? Most chewing gums are manufactured in the same manner up to a certain point. The gum base is melted in large, steam-jacketed kettles which heat it to about 240 degrees F. At this point it achieves the consistency of thick maple syrup. This "syrup" is then filtered through fine mesh screens, clarified in a centrifuge, and further filtered through very fine vacuum strainers. Throughout the process, the melted gum base is kept hot. The "mixers" now come into play. These are huge vats capable of holding up to 2,000 pounds each, and are equipped with slowly revolving blades. The first additions take place in these mixers. Powdered sugar, whose particle size has a definite effect on the brittleness or flexibility of the final product, is added. So is corn syrup, or glucose, which keeps the gum moist and pleasant to chew, and helps the sugar to combine easily with the gum base. Also softeners, which further retain moisture in the gum to insure a flexible, resilient chew; finally, either natural or artificial flavoring, whichever is desired, and to whatever taste, is added to the gum base in the huge mixing vats, as the giant blades slowly turn.

The blended gum then passes out of the mixers onto cooling belts and is bathed in currents of cool air to reduce its temperature. After this it moves to the extruders, machines which manipulate it to make it much smoother and finer in texture. From the extruders, the gum passes to a series of giant rollers which make up the "sheet-rolling machine." There, the gum is flattened into thinner and thinner sheets, the final thickness determined by the type of gum it is to be. Stick gum comes from the thinnest sheets; candy-coated gum, dating back to 1890, from a thicker sheet; and bubble or ball gum, from the thickest sheet of all. The stick gum passes into the cutting and scoring machines, where it is cut into smaller sheets, each scored in a single-stick pattern. The gum destined for candy coating is scored into little square or oblong pellets, and broken up by machine. For ball gum, the gum is scored or extruded into a pencil shape, and then run through specialized forming machines to form a ball shape.

The machines shaping and wrapping bubble gum, first sold in 1906, may be set for any one of a variety of shapes: stick, candy-coated, ball, pencil, kiss, or square. When scored stick gum emerges from the rollers, it has also been sprinkled with pure powered sugar. The gum is then put aside to "set'' in an air-conditioned room for at least 48 hours. The candy-coated gum is, after a 24-to-48 hour storage period, sometimes undercoated to help the coating adhere more firmly, then coated with candy in this case, pure, liquid sugar. The gum is then placed into pans where it is whirled with beeswax or another wax product. This process provides candy-coated chewing gum with its characteristic sheen. Chewing gum comes in an enormous variety of packages. Among them are the multiple-stick packs, the box-type of pack for candy-coated pellet gum, individually wrapped pieces of bubble gum, and the glass vending machines in which ball gum is revealed, unwrapped. The important thing about packaging is that it takes place under immaculate conditions as does the rest of the manufacturing process, so that the product reaches the consumer with all of its quality and purity fully protected

Answer 7

orbit spearmint: sorbitol, gum base, glycerol, mannitol, natural and artificial flavors, xylytol, aspartame, acesulfame k, soy lecithin, blue 1 lake, BHT(to maintan freshmen), color added phenylketonurics; contains phenylanine,

Answer 8

Gum paste, sugar(if it IS NOT sugar free), and much, much more....

Answer 9

As I was watching food network, they say it was made from rubber!

Answer 10

maple sugar and gel