Nowadays, chewing gum has been routinely used by many adults to protect teeth and oral hygiene, along with toothpaste, dental floss and breath fresheners. Gum is an inseparable "accessory" of modern man. The popularity of chewing gum is very high, despite the fact that it was invented a little more than a century ago. It is interesting to know that the first chewing gums were made on the basis of beeswax and pine juice. Chewing such an elastic was not very pleasant, but this chewing gum was very useful for teeth. The first industrial production of chewing gum was founded by American John Curtis in 1848. It was an elastic band made of pine resin. Its popularity was small, because the pine resin contains many impurities, quite unpleasant to the taste.
Modern chewing gum was invented on December 28, 1868 by American William Sample. It consisted of rubber and natural flavors, thanks to which its taste became more pleasant. The sample, however, did not produce chewing gum for sale. But soon the "ruminant" business was opened by Thomas Adams - in 1969. For this, he bought from a former president of Mexico a ton of rubber. The buyers liked the chewing gum Adams and he got rich on his business, long time without having competitors. Competition in the production of chewing gum was formed only in the early 20th century, when the Wrigley's company appeared on the market. The history of the company is very interesting. The company's founder, William Wrigley, was a soap seller. Once he noticed that people buy soap in his store not because soap is good, but because a pack of soap was supplied with a gift - a plate of chewing gum. Soon, Wrigley became a successful manufacturer of chewing gum, which is popular in our day.
Over time, the production of chewing gum has been improved: various flavoring agents, sugar have been added to its composition. Gum appeared with various therapeutic functions - soothing digestion, eliminating heartburn. Soon there was a chewing gum, which protects teeth from caries, the creator of it - Fran Kinning. A funny invention for children were lollipops with chewing gum inside. An interesting fact: cloves and mint were added to chewing gum during the years of dry law in America, when fresh breath became priceless and provided an additional reputation for the abstainer.
Finally, in 1928, a 23-year-old accountant named Walter Dimer created a unique chewing gum formula that is still relevant today: rubber - 20%, sugar (or substitute) - 60%, corn syrup - 19%, flavorings - 1% . The only dye that was near Dimer's hand is pink, which he used, since then the most common color of chewing gum is pink. Dimer's chewing gum is called bubble gum, because it has great elasticity, and bubbles are blown out of it.
It is interesting to know that in the Soviet Union people also knew how to make chewing gum, and at home! Try it now at home. To do this, you need a roll of adhesive plaster and toothpaste. In a saucepan with boiling water, lower the unwound adhesive plaster and boil it for 10 minutes. Then remove and separate the adhesive from the fabric, roll it into the ball. Then again, lower this ball into boiling water, add 1st. l. toothpaste, so that the ball is soaked with fragrance. After 15 minutes, you can drain the water and try homemade cud!