Larry
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Chewing gum has a long history and bubble gum didn’t come until much later. The original flavor of chewing gum is simple the plant material that originally served as a base. The first chewing gum known to man was chewed 5,000 years ago by our distant ancestors near what is now Finland. It was made from a tarry sap that comes from the bark of birch trees. Independently, the ancient Aztecs and Mayans chewed a gum made from the sap of sapodilla trees, called chicle. Other North American Indians chewed a gum made from spruce tree sap and the ancient Greeks use the resins of the mastic tree, mastiche. None of these early gums, however, had any flavor associated with them other than the flavor of the sap or resin itself.
The first commercially made chewing gum was produced in 1848 by John B. Curtis in the U.S. It was called State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum. Later, Curtis began selling a gum-like treat made of paraffin, a substance much like wax. The paraffin was flavored but very different than the gum we know of today. Thomas Adams later furthered chewing gum by inventing a machine in 1871 to manufacture it from chicle. In 1880 John Colgan improved gum by making it hold flavors for longer periods of time. It was not until 1906 that the first bubble gum was invented by Frank Fleer. He never successfully marketed his invention and never attempted to sell it. In 1928, an employee of Fleer’s company, invented the first bubble gum for sale. He wanted to give it some color but all he had on hand was pink. The name of this original bubble gum was Double Bubble, the name still used today.
The original flavor of Double Bubble is a closely guarded secret and no one knows for sure of what it is composed. All we know is that it is a mixture of fruity flavors derived from both natural and artificial sources. Later, other bubble gum companies copied the flavor as best they could. Today, bubble gum flavor is manufactured from chemical components and sold in bulk to manufacturers of other products like candies, drinks, and toothpaste.
 Posted 5402 day ago
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