The concept of chewing gum was independently developed by Ancient Greeks, Native Americans and Mayan and Aztec cultures. They all came up with the idea of a chewable substance, derived from plants, that wasn’t exactly food.
However, in a video on his Fearless and Far channel, adventurer Mike Corey reveals that the gum we buy today is a million miles from the natural substances enjoyed by the ancients.
“After learning what I just did, I don’t think I’ll ever chew gum again,” he says.
Mike journeyed to Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula forests to explore the origins of gum and meet one of the last authentic Chicleros – men who climb the sapodilla tree to collect its valuable, chewy sap.
Muyo, Mike’s new pal, demonstrated how he carves notches into the tree’s bark for two reasons; they offer footholds for his 35ft ascent to the tree’s top, and they create a neat channel that directs the precious sap into his bucket below.
Nowadays, only a handful of small-scale natural gum producers remain.
Deborah Schimberg, from Glee Gum based in Providence, Rhode Island, insists there’s nothing quite like the real thing, reports the Mirror.
“They just aren’t very appetising,” she confessed to the Serious Eats blog.
She compares chewing modern gum to “chewing on those paraffin wax lips they sell at candy stores,” She adds, “Chicle, on the other hand, has this natural combination of waxiness and rubberiness that creates a perfect mouthfeel.”
Until the outbreak of World War II, chicle, a natural substance, was the main ingredient in chewing gum, which gained global popularity as it was distributed by US servicemen.
However, Mike, who has recently tapped fresh chicle in the Yucatan Peninsula, vows to avoid modern gum after discovering its contents.
“Post-war in the 1950s, we got the old bait and switch, natural chicle sap got swapped out for synthetic stuff, making gum more elastic and longer lasting. And no one really noticed,” he claimed.
Today’s chewing gum is concocted with an array of peculiar components, including a rubber used in tyres, according to Mike: “Styrene-butadiene, the synthetic rubber found in all kinds of different tyres.”
Mike continues with a grim revelation about other ingredients: “And honestly,” he claims, “that’s probably one of the most appetising ingredients in modern chewing gum. The next one, if you can believe it, it’s even worse. Glue.”
He also points out that our everyday chewing gum shares an ingredient with PVA glue, as well as polyethylene, the plastic used in disposable shopping bags.
Holding up a carrier bag, Mike drives his point home: “You’re basically chewing this,” he declares. “You can now spit out your plastic bags.”
