Zoft Gum

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Zoft Gum Company is a manufacturer and distributor of herbal chewing gum also known as functional gum. The company advertises that gum can deliver functional benefits in more acceptable food formats for people who do not like to take pills or capsules. chewing the gum can deliver functional ingredients such as vitamins, minerals, herbal extracts, and antioxidants.^[1]

[edit] Manufacture

Zoft gum is created when the gum base is softened in large kettles which heat to about 120 degrees fahrenheit. At this point it achieves the consistency of thick maple syrup. This "syrup" is then filtered through fine mesh screens, clarified in a centrifuge, and further filtered through very fine vacuum strainers. Throughout the process, the gum base is kept hot. The "mixers" now come into play. These are huge vats capable of holding up to 2,000 pounds each, and are equipped with slowly revolving sigma blades. The first additions take place in these mixers. Sweeteners are added first which have a definite effect on the bitterness and flexibility of the final product. Softeners are then added which further retain moisture in the gum to insure flexible, resilient chew. Finally, natural or artificial flavoring, whichever is desired, and functional actives (bulking agents) are added to the gum base in the huge mixing vats, as the giant blades slowly turn.

The blended gum then passes out of the mixers onto cooling belts and is bathed in currents of cool air to reduce its temperature. After this it moves to the extruders, machines which manipulate it to make it much smoother and finer in texture. From the extruders, the gum passes to a series of giant rollers which make up the "sheet-rolling" machine. There, the gum is flattened into thinner and thinner sheets, the final thickness determined by the type of gum it is to be. Stick gum comes from the thinnest sheets and bubble or ball gum, from the thickets sheet of all. The stick gum passes into the cutting and scoring machines, where it is cut into smaller sheets, each scored in a single-stick pattern. The gum destined for candy coating is scored into little square or oblong pellets, and broken up by machine. For ball gum, the gum is scored or extruded into pencil shape, and then run through specialized forming machines to form a ball shape.

The machines shaping and wrapping bubble gum may be set for any one of a variety of shapes: stick, candy-coated, ball, pencil, kiss, or square. When scored stick gum emerges from the rollers, it has also been sprinkled with pure powered sugar. The gum is then put aside to "set" in an air-conditioned room for at least 48 hours. The candy-coated gum is, after a 24-to-48 hour storage period, sometimes undercoated to help the coating adhere more firmly, then coated. The gum is then placed into pans where it is whirled with carnauba or another wax product. This process provides candy-coated chewing gum with its characteristic sheen. Chewing gum comes in an enormous variety of packages. Among them are the multiple-stick packs, the box-type of pack for candy-coated pellet gum, individually wrapped pieces of bubble gum, and the glass vending machines in which ball gum is revealed, unwrapped. The important thing about packaging is that it takes place under immaculate conditions as does the rest of the manufacturing process, so that the product reaches the consumer with all of its quality and purity fully protected.