The first chewing gum came from trees. People chewed hunks of latex or resin. Latex is a sticky juice that oozes from sapodilla or chewing gum trees. When latex touches air, it becomes thick and gummy.  

Resin is a gummy sap found in certain trees. Native Americans taught the early American settlers to make gum by cutting into the tree. The tree made gooey resin to patch up the cuts made. After the tree’s resin hardened, the Indians scraped it off and chewed it. Resin gum was not soft and sweet. It was hard to chew and tasted tangy. 

In 1848, John Curtis, a lumberjack in Maine, chewed spruce resin gum while he worked. He liked it so much he decided to try selling it. First he brought home several hunks of resin. He boiled the resin to clean it. Next he cut the resin into strips and packaged it. Then John walked from store to store and tried to sell his gum.  

Eventually, one store agreed to sell John’s gum. It was a huge success. Before long, thousands of people were buying John Curtis’ gum. By 1852, John Curtis opened the Curtis Chewing Gum Factory—the first chewing gum factory in the world.

Thomas added sugar, and flavors like mint and licorice to make it taste good. He then rolled the chicle into little balls—the first gum balls. He also invented the first chewing gum machine and filled it with his colorful gum balls. 

But what about bubbles?  

Resin gum was too thick to blow bubbles. Latex gum was too sticky. So a young man named Walter Diemer worked to make a bubble gum. He mixed many batches of gum in his kitchen until he found the perfect recipe.  

The gum blew bubbles but they were an ugly grey color. Walter grabbed the only food coloring he had—pink. Walter’s Dubble Bubble gum quickly became a best seller. 

So when you pop a piece of gum in your mouth, remember John, Thomas, and Walter--three men who helped the world get stuck on gum.

Photos provided by: VS Grenier

Copyright © 2007 by Carla Mooney