Mayan Gum

Mayan Gum • The Mayan Indians

practiced the art of chewing gum to clean their teeth

• Zapote or Chicozapote are the common names of the tree from which “chicle”, the chewing gum resin is extracted.

• This tree extracts a latex sap which gives the gum its rubbery texture

The Zapote/Chicozapote Tree Sap is extracted from trunk of tree

• An 1869 inventor Thomas

Adams, Sr. , realizing that chicle was superior to all other gum bases then available, produced some chicle-based gum and persuaded a local druggist to carry it. This rediscovery of what the Mayans had known over one thousand years earlier revolutionized the manufacture of gum

Chicle-tapped from a Zapote Tree. Notice the texture which allows for a natural chewing gum

Why We Chew Gum Today

• To clean teeth• To curve appetite• To stop smoking• To relieve stress• To have fresh breath• For fun!

Manufacturing Gum

• Thanks to the Mayans there are many types of gum that are now manufactured every day.

• Approximately 374 billion pieces of gum are sold worldwide every year.

We Can Thank the Mayans for Our Modern Day Gum

Today’s manufacturi Filtering the chicle 

Works Cited

Bellis, Mary. "History of Chewing Gum." About.com:Inentors 2008 2/22/08 <http://inventors.about.com/od/gstartinventions/a/gum.htm>.

“Chicle” The Columbia Encyclopedia. 6th. 2007.