Natural Chewing Gum Base
How to make
Natural Chewing Gums
Overview of industrial process for to natural chewing gum manufacture
The chicle gum base is mixer with additives,
it is placed in kettles to be cooked and additional ingredients are stirred in by large steel blades.
first extremely fine powdered sugar and corn syrup are added.
The flavorings are added next, followed by softeners.
When the mixture is smooth enough, it is rolled out on to belts and cooled by being exposed to cold air.
The next step is kneading.
For several hours machines gently pummel the mass.
After being dusted with powdered sugar,
the gums is scored into a pattern of rectangles, seasoned and broken into sticks.
The gum is now ready to be packaged and shipped
To retail outlets, gums until it is properly rubbery and smooth.
Large chunks are then chopped off the mass, to be flattened by rollers until they reach
the proper thickness nearly 17 inches ( about 43 cm )
During this process, the sheet of chewing gum is dusted with powdered sugar to prepare it for cutting.
The natural chicle gum base is melted in large, steam-jacketed kettles which heat it to about 240 degrees F
is added. So is corn syrup, or glucose, which keeps the gum moist and pleasant to chew, and helps the sugar to combine easily with the gum base. Also softeners,
The blended gum then passes out of the mixers onto cooling belts and is bathed in currents of cool air to reduce its temperature
From the extruders, the gum passes to a series of giant rollers which make up the "sheet-rolling machine."
After this it moves to the extruders, machines which manipulate it to make it much smoother and finer in texture
The gum is flattened into thinner and thinner sheets, the final thickness determined by the type of gum it is to be. Stick gum comes from the thinnest sheets
After a 24-to-48 hour storage period, sometimes undercoated to help the coating adhere more firmly, then coated with candy in this case, pure, liquid sugar. The gum is then placed into pans where it is whirled with beeswax
The gum destined for candy coating is scored into little square or oblong pellets, and broken up by machine. For ball gum, the gum is scored or extruded into a pencil shape, and then run through specialized forming machines to form a ball shape
Chewing gum comes in an enormous variety of packages. Among them are the multiple-stick packs, the box-type of pack for candy-coated pellet gum, individually wrapped pieces of bubble gum, and the glass vending machines in which ball gum is revealed, unwrapped.
