William Semple filed an early patent on chewing gum, patent number 98,304, on December 28, 1869. To sweeten these early gums, the chewer would often make use of a plate of powdered sugar, which they would repeatedly dip the gum into to maintain sweetness. Around 1850 a gum made from paraffin wax, which is a petroleum product, was developed and soon exceeded the spruce gum in popularity. In this way, the industrializing West, having forgotten about tree gums, rediscovered chewing gum through the First Americans. Curtis developed and sold the first commercial chewing gum called The State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum. The New England settlers picked up this practice, and in 1848, John B.

The American Indians chewed resin made from the sap of sprucetrees. Variations of early chewing gum worldwide Ancient civilizationĪlthough chewing gum can be traced back to civilizations around the world, the modernization and commercialization of this product mainly took place in the United States. Many other cultures have chewed gum-like substances made from plants, grasses, and resins. Mastic gum, like birch bark tar, has antiseptic properties and is believed to have been used to maintain oral health. The Ancient Greeks chewed mastic gum, made from the resin of the mastic tree. Forms of chewing gums were also chewed in Ancient Greece.

The Mayans and Aztecs were the first to exploit the positive properties of gum, they used chicle, a natural tree gum, as a base for making a gum-like substance and to stick objects together in everyday use. It is chemically similar to petroleum tar and is in this way different from most other early gum.

The tar from which the gums were made is believed to have antiseptic properties and other medicinal benefits. 6,000-year-old chewing gum made from birch bark tar, with tooth imprints, has been found in Kierikki in Finland. Ĭhewing gum in many forms has existed since the Neolithic period. Early chewers did not necessarily desire to derive nutritional benefits from their chewable substances, but at times sought taste stimuli and teeth cleaning or breath-freshening capabilities. Each of the early precursors to chewing gum were derived from natural growths local to the region and were chewed purely out the instinctual desire to masticate. The cultural tradition of chewing gum seems to have developed through a convergent evolution process, as traces of this habit have arisen separately in many of the early civilizations.

Chewing on plastic