Friday, October 23, 2009

The Process Of Making Chewing Gum







Gum chewers may not realize the intricate process that goes into creating the snack, but all companies have a similar process. The first chewing gum machine was not even patented and remains the industry standard.


Ingredients


Chewing gum is made mostly of organic and artificial latex and sweeteners such as natural sugars like corn syrup or cane sugar.


Harvesting Latex


Latex must be harvested and processed from a chicle tree, which is scored with a series of marks that will allow the chicle to flow off the tree and into a bucket. The collected chicle is strained, put in kettles with oil and stirred.


Mold








Once the chicle has decreased to two-thirds of its initial volume, it is poured into molds and left to dry for two days.


Purification


After two days the molds are cooked in kettles until the chicle becomes a type of syrup. A purification process begins involving filtering the concoction through a series of increasingly fine screens.


Additives


The base is mixed with additives--powdered sugar and syrup first, then flavorings and softeners.


Cutting and Completion


The mix is then rolled onto belts and kneaded for three hours by machine. Sections are separated and flattened before a cutting machine cuts them into a gum-stick shape.

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