While American settlers had learned about chewing tree sap from American Indians, it wasn’t until after the Mexican-American War ended that chewing gum became the blow-up phenomenon we know it as today. John B. Curtis began to produce the first commercial chewing gum, delicious spruce flavored, in 1848.
The Gum Fad Picks Up Steam
The deposed Mexican president General Antonio López de Santa Anna brought the habit of chewing chicle to the U.S. when he was living in exile in Staten Island. This is where he met Thomas Adams who was assigned to become Santa Anna’s secretary. Santa Anna was convinced that chicle could be used as a replacement for rubber, but when this didn’t work, Adams did some experimentation.
Once Adams figured out how to heat, flavor, and shape the chicle into the novel shape of sticks, he began to sell it to great acclaim. One of Adam’s most popular gums in the 1870s was the beloved Black Jack that so many of us grew up with!
Via/Flickr
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