Chewing Gum
The first chewing gum was made in Finland around 6,000 year ago. And, it has been popular across age groups since then. Chewing gum is a food substance meant to be chewed and not swallowed. It contains softeners, sweeteners, wax, elastomer colour and flavours. It has a rubber like texture, powered hard coating made from polyol. Earlier it was made naturally using mastic tree, chichle, sugar, pine, tree resins, betel nuts and coca leaves. Now, it is made using butadiene-based synthetic rubber or petroleum wax as it is more cost-effective. Sweeteners are often designed to encapsulate the flavour and release it later.