History of Gum – Cafosa (2024)

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History of Gum – Cafosa? ›

Cafosa was founded in Barcelona in 1979 to sell gum base and provide technical support to chewing gum manufacturers around the world. The aim was to create different experiences for consumers and, together with our customers, build an inspiring category. This is still what drives us today.

Both the Aztecs and Maya traditionally chewed chicle. It was chewed as a way to stave off hunger, freshen breath, and keep teeth clean.

North America also produced gum-friendly trees: it is said that Native American tribes in modern-day New England introduced their gum-chewing habit to early colonists. The ubiquitous spruce provided a chewy resin that the natives found thirst-quenching.

William F. Semple, a dentist from Mount Vernon, Ohio, filed an early patent on chewing gum, patent number 98,304, on 28 December 1869. Semple's gum was intended to clean the teeth and strengthen the chewer's jaw. It was not a sweet treat; ingredients included chalk and powdered licorice root.

Some of the first examples of chewing gum actually originated in the Americas. The ancient Mayans chewed chicle, which is the sap from the sapodilla tree, while North American Indians chewed the sap from spruce trees. This habit was passed down to early settlers, who made chewing gum from spruce sap and beeswax.

While that's not exactly true, former Mexican Gen. and President Antonio López de Santa Anna did inadvertently contribute to the development and popularization of chewing gum in the United States late in life, bringing a tree-based product known as chicle from Mexico to Staten Island, N.Y.

As mentioned previously, chewing gum was a big part of the government's efforts to keep its troops fed and comfortable during wartime. Small creature comforts, such as chewing gum, chocolate, and cigarettes, were regularly added to field rations as a means of keeping soldiers sane.

This may shock you but early Native Americans had a high fiber diet due to heating large amounts of corn (maize), beans, squash, fish and game. This meant they also had healthy smiles to boot! This left them with very healthy teeth and gums.

Reasons for the ban

In July and August 1991, gum stuck between MRT train doors caused the trains to stop as the doors could not close fully. These two incidents led to train disruptions with passengers having to disembark before the train could move again.

Walter E. Diemer (January 8, 1904 – January 8, 1998) was an American accountant who, in 1928, invented bubble gum. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.

Why was Dentyne gum discontinued? ›

Another surprising pandemic casualty, gum sales tumbled in the early days of Covid, as foot traffic at convenience stores slowed and more people stayed home. And who needs fresh breath when you're wearing a mask? And even before the pandemic, Mondelez's gum revenues in certain markets were dipping.

The oldest flavored gum that is still available today is Black Jack, a licorice gum that was created by Thomas Adams (b. 1818). Adams' foray into the chewing gum manufacturing world began when he was looking for a way to make a cheap synthetic rubber for bicycle and carriage tires.

Various people have been credited with inventing Chiclets, including the brothers Robert and Frank Fleer and Louis Mahle. It was mentioned in the Saturday Evening Post in 2019 that as of 2016, Chiclets was discontinued by Mondelez in the United States. It has re-appeared as of 2019, manufactured in Mexico.

The Aztecs also used chicle and even had rules about its social acceptability. Only kids and single women were allowed to chew it in public, notes Mathews. Married women and widows could chew it privately to freshen their breath, while men could chew it in secret to clean their teeth.

This mixture of polysaccharides and glycoproteins gives it the properties of a glue and binder that is edible by humans. Acacia gum has long been used in traditional medicine and in everyday applications. The Egyptians used the material as a glue and as a pain-reliever base.

Spruce gum is a chewing material made from the resin of spruce trees. In North America, spruce resin was chewed by Native Americans and was later introduced to the early American pioneers and was sold commercially by the 19th century, by John B. Curtis among others. It has also been used as an adhesive.

Native Americans of the Northeast originally chewed them, taking pieces on long hauls when fishing, hunting, or exploring. It moistened their mouths, cleaned their teeth, and likely had other medicinal qualities.

Chewing gum has been around for thousands of years. Both the ancient Mayans and Aztecs chewed a substance called chicle to clean teeth, get rid of bad breathe, fight hunger, and quench thirst.

They also used alum to whiten teeth, had remedies for bad breath, invented the toothbrush, and extensively used the tooth pick. The Aztecs called the toothpick, “netlantataconi.” Also, the Aztecs used plain unsweetened gum called chicle as a preventative against tooth decay.

While the Aztecs ruled, they farmed large areas of land. Staples of their diet were maize, beans and squash. To these, they added chilies and tomatoes. They also harvested Acocils, an abundant crayfish-like creature found in Lake Texcoco, as well as Spirulina algae which they made into cakes.