was introduced to chicle from Central and
South America. Chicle is a latex, a milky,
water-based plant fluid that carries tiny
droplets of long, coiled carbon-hydrogen
chains. These chains have the property of
being elastic: they uncoil and stretch out when
pulled, but snap back when released. The best
known of these latex substances is rubber.
Adams got the idea of using the chicle as a
gum base, and patented chicle gum in 1871.
With sugar and sassafras or licorice
flavorings, it quickly caught on. By 1900,
entrepreneurs with such names as Fleer and
Wrigley had developed gumballs and
peppermint and spearmint flavors, and in
1928 a Fleer employee perfected bubble gum
by developing a very elastic latex mixture
from longer hydrocarbon polymers.
Modern Synthetic Gums Today, chewing
gum is made mostly of synthetic polymers,
especially styrene-butadiene rubber — also