The History And Production Of Chewing Gum

摘要

Before we had multimillion-dol-lar production facilities producing millions of pounds of gum each year the ancient Greeks were enjoying this confection. The gum they chewed came from the bark of the mastic tree, which grows in the area of Greece and Turkey. Women of the time, especially, chewed this bark to clean their teeth and freshen their breath. On the other side of the earth, the ancient Mayans, in southern Mexico near Tikal, used another material to chew on. This was the sap from the sapodilla tree. Today this material is known as chicle. It is in this region that a large potion of the world's chicle trees are located.