Bubble gum

For other uses, see Bubblegum (disambiguation).

Bubble gum
A woman blowing a bubble with bubble gum.
Type	Chewing gum
Creator	Walter E. Diemer
Cookbook:Bubble gum Bubble gum

Bubble gum is a type of chewing gum, designed to be inflated out of the mouth as a bubble.

History

In 1928, Walter E. Diemer, an accountant for the Fleer Chewing Gum Company in Philadelphia, was experimenting with new gum recipes. One recipe was found to be less sticky than regular chewing gum, and stretched more easily. This gum became highly successful and was eventually named by the president of Fleer as Dubble Bubble because of its stretchy texture. The original bubble gum was pink in color because that was the only dye Diemer had on hand at the time and it was his favorite color. In modern chewing gum, if natural rubber such as chicle is used, it must pass several purity and cleanliness tests. However, most modern types of chewing gum use synthetic gum based materials. These materials allow for longer-lasting flavor, a better texture, and a reduction in tackiness.^[1]

Decline in popularity

While chewing gum was widely popular from the mid 20th century until the 2000s, in the early 2010s it has seen a decline in sales, falling 11 percent in the United States between 2009 and 2013 after peaking in 2009. ^[2] Reasons cited include more alternatives for fresh breath, a backlash against the mess gum makes, and poor marketing choices by gum companies.

Flavors

Various colours of bubblegum balls

Bubble gum is available in many colors and flavors. A "bubblegum flavor" is the taste of the unflavored gum. Although the exact ingredients were kept a mystery to customers, chemicals such as ethyl methylphenylglycidate, isoamyl acetate, fruit extracts, and more give it its sweet flavor. ^[3] When blended, the chemicals and extracts fuse to make a sweet, palatable flavor. Gums made with vanilla, coconut, peppermint and almond extracts are available.

Flavors include blue raspberry, lemon, strawberry, apple, cherry, watermelon, cinnamon, banana, peppermint, cotton candy and grape of which strawberry and banana can be achieved with ethyl methylphenylglycidate and isoamyl acetate limonene, respectively. Malic acid can be used for apple flavor, allyl hexanoate for pineapple, ethyl propionate for fruit punch, cinnamic aldehyde for cinnamon and acetophenone for cherry. More unusual flavors such as berry, cola, lemon lime, peach, tropical fruit, pineapple, orange, or fruit punch can also be found, as well as novelty tastes such as bacon or popcorn.

In taste tests, children tend to prefer strawberry and blue raspberry flavors, rejecting more complex flavors as they say these make them want to swallow the gum rather than continue chewing.^[4]

Records

The 26-inch bubble blown by Susan Montgomery Williams of Fresno, California in 1996 holds the Guinness World Record for largest bubblegum bubble. Chad Fell holds the record for "Largest Hands-free Bubblegum Bubble" at 50.8 centimetres (20.0 in), achieved on 24 April 2004.^[5]

References