Making Gum
Most chewing gums are manufactured in the same manner up to a certain point.
1. The first step in making chewing gum is melting the gum base
• The gum base is melted in large, steam-jacketed kettles which heat it to about 240 degrees F. and achieves the consistency of thick maple syrup.
• This "syrup" is then filtered through fine mesh screens, clarified in a centrifuge, and further filtered through very fine vacuum strainers.
• Throughout the process, the melted gum base is kept hot.
2. In the second step the "mixers" come into play.
• These are huge vats capable of holding up to 2,000 pounds each, and are equipped with slowly revolving blades.
• The first additions take place in these mixers.
_ Powdered sugar, whose particle size has a definite effect on the brittleness or flexibility of the final product, is added.
_ Corn syrup, or glucose is added. This keeps the gum moist and pleasant to chew, and helps the sugar to combine easily with the gum base.
_ Softeners are added, which further retain moisture in the gum to insure a flexible, resilient chew.
_ Finally, either natural or artificial flavoring, whichever is desired, and to whatever taste, is added to the gum base in the huge mixing vats, as the giant blades slowly turn.
• The blended gum then passes out of the mixers onto cooling belts and is bathed in currents of cool air to reduce its temperature.
3. The gum is now ready and moves to the extruders.
• Extruders are machines which manipulate the gum to make it much smoother and finer in texture.
4. From the extruders, the gum passes to a series of giant sheet-rolling machine.
• In this process, 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;
_ Candy-coated gum, from a thicker sheet;
_ Bubble or ball gum, from the thickest sheet of all.
5. The gum passes into the cutting and scoring machines.
• The gum destined for candy coating is scored into little square or oblong pellets, and broken up by machine.
• For stick gum, the gum is cut into smaller sheets, each scored in a single-stick pattern.
• 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.
• For bubblegum, the machines shaping and wrapping them may be set for any one of a variety of shapes: stick, candy-coated, ball, pencil, kiss, or square.
• When scored stick gum emerges from the rollers, it has also been sprinkled with pure powered sugar.
6. The gum is then put aside to "set'' in an air-conditioned room for at least 48 hours. The candy-coated gum is, 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.
7. The gum is then placed into pans where it is whirled with beeswax or another wax product. This process provides candy-coated chewing gum with its characteristic sheen.
8. In the process for making square bubble gum, the gum mixture goes through an extruding process.
• This process changes the bubble gum into a form like a cord or a rope. Imagine a machine like a sausage-making device that pushes the gum out in a long single strand.
• This cord is then put on a moving belt and passed through a conditioning tunnel to cool it and develop its texture.
• After this, the long cord of gum is cut into one-inch long chunks and individually wrapped.
Different types of chewing gums available in the market place
There are more than 1,000 varieties of gum manufactured and sold:
• gum filled with liquid or speckled with crystals;
• gum that won't stick or is made without sugar;
• gum with therapeutic purposes such as cough relief or dental hygiene;
• gum with wild flavor combinations like mango and watermelon;
• or gum in crazy shapes like long rolls of tape.
Chewing gum also 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.
The important thing about packaging is that it takes place under immaculate conditions as does the rest of the manufacturing process, so that the product reaches the consumer with all of its quality and purity fully protected.
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