Have you heard of chiclets? Before writing this post, I hadn’t heard about them; maybe we are in the same boat, or perhaps this was your favorite gum as a child.
Either way, thanks to the creative folks at Verburg, a tribute to this historical gum is back! Unfortunately, Chiclets were discontinued in 2016, but now you can get a real taste of one of the most popular chewing gums by introducing our new Mini Mini Chicles Fruity Crunchy Coated Gum!
Everyone has their preference for gum. They want a fruity burst of flavor, a minty breeze, a spicy cinnamon kick, or no gum.
When chewing gum, I often question its existence. Is gum a candy? If not, what is it?
I don’t traditionally think of gum as candy, but what about the fact that we at Candy Favorites sell gum? What about candy-coated gum? After all, the Mini Chicles are sold as Fruity, Crunchy, Coated Gum!
If you have these same questions, I welcome you to this blog post today, for I hope to answer them for both of us.
To answer these questions that this fitting tribute of Chicles has conjured in me, I have to give a little historical background on the Original and, sadly, discontinued Chiclets.
This original Chiclets was first produced in 1900, while its company, The American Chicle Company, was founded in 1899. Thomas Adam, the founder of the company, is credited with coming up with the chiclet gum; however, there are stories that he didn’t have the original idea.
One rumor is that Thomas's boss chewed a natural gum called chicle when working as a secretary. Another story is that he got the idea from a candy salesman who mentioned putting candy coating on gum to create a new chewing experience. Even though we aren’t entirely sure who came up with the idea for Chiclets, we know that The American Chicle Company was the first to make them!
Chicle gum is made from the natural substance of sap from a sapodilla tree. This sap serves as the base that Chicles are made of. This base is engulfed with a candy coating to finish the final product.
The Original Chicles were tile-shaped pieces of gum that are both crunchy, flavorful, and not like other ordinary gums. Every time you pop a piece in your mouth, your tastebuds wait in anticipation for the crack in the candy coating to unleash the flavor.
We have a fitting tribute to these sadly discontinued little blasts from the past in the new Mini Mini Chicles Fruity Coated Crunchy Gum - a fitting tribute to Mini Chiclets if there ever was!
The gum comes in a colorful array of colors, for the fruity flavor, including red, green, yellow, orange, and pink, to add that little punch to the overall experience. But, after all, chewing gum is an experience, and to fully appreciate it, we need to understand why we chew gum in the first place!
Chewing gum has been around for a long time and has been used as a ration for soldiers during wars. There have also been studies done that show that gum can help activate neural circuits in your brain that help form memories. So there isn’t a definite answer, but the answer is that chewing is a part of who we are and part of our biology. Chewing gum helps us satiate our need to chew without actually eating food.
I think my research answered my question about gum being candy.
Here is my final answer after doing my deep dive into their history and the long minutes I spent thinking about it: I think that gum is not a candy.
Even with candy coating, I still cannot be convinced, mainly because gum is not swallowed (at least not typically). Gum instead is a satisfying sweet. It is not quite a traditionally defined sweet since it does not fully get consumed, but it is a sweet treat that satiates your sweet tooth.
I feel so lucky that we, Candy Favorites, can provide you all with your satisfying sweets to keep you (including your sweet tooth) happy. We are delighted to be able to reacquaint you and the next generation of candy aficionados with a new twist on an old classic that may be gone in its original form but is indeed not forgotten.
Make sure to let us know your diagnosis of whether you think gum is candy or not (or maybe you are in the middle just like me).
Happy chewing!
