Bubble gum

While there is a well-known "bubblegum flavor" – which artificial flavorings called esters are mixed to obtain – it varies from one company to another.[1] Esters used in synthetic bubblegum flavoring may include methyl salicylate, ethyl butyrate, benzyl acetate, amyl acetate or cinnamic aldehyde.[2] A natural bubblegum flavoring can be produced by combining banana, pineapple, cinnamon, cloves, and wintergreen.[3] Vanilla, cherry, lemon, and orange oil have also been suggested as ingredients.[2]

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.[4]

In 1928, Walter Diemer, an accountant for the Fleer Chewing Gum Company in Philadelphia, was experimenting with new gum recipes. One recipe, based on a formula for a chewing gum called "Blibber Blubber", 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.

This remained the dominant brand of bubble gum until after WWII, when Bazooka bubble gum entered the market.[5]

Until the 1970s, bubble gum still tended to stick to one's face. At that time, synthetic gum was introduced, which would almost never stick as a bubble popped. The first brands in the US to use these new synthetic gum bases were Hubba Bubba and Bubble Yum.

Bubble gum got its distinctive pink color because the original recipe Diemer worked on produced a dingy gray colored gum, so he added red dye (diluted to pink) as that was the only dye he had on hand at the time.[6]

Various colors of bubblegum balls

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.[7]

In 1996, Susan Montgomery Williams of Fresno, California set the Guinness World Record for largest bubblegum bubble ever blown, which was 26 inches (66 cm) in diameter. Chad Fell though holds the record for "Largest Hands-free Bubblegum Bubble" at 20 inches (51 cm), achieved on 24 April 2004.[8]

Bubblegum Alley is a tourist attraction in downtown San Luis Obispo, California, known for its accumulation of used bubble gum on the walls of an alley.

The Market Theater Gum Wall is a brick wall covered in used chewing gum located in an alleyway in Post Alley under Pike Place Market in Downtown Seattle.

• Blibber-Blubber
• Functional gum
• Gum base
• Gum industry
• Inca Kola
• List of chewing gum brands