Chewing gum contains 20% to 25% of gum base which is not consumable and insoluble in the saliva. It is made from a thick juice called “chicle” which comes from within the sapodilla tree. This tree grows in Latin America, Indonesia and Malaysia. Chicle is won by making zigzag cuts along the tree trunk so that the thick white juice inside drips out and are collected in small bags.

The chicleros then cook, stretch and mold the chicle into rectangular blocks called marquetas for shipping. At the factory this chicle is boiled with corn syrup, glycerin, sugar and flavoring. It is then dried, rolled and cut into bite-size pieces. This is how chewing gum was originally made, though not everyone makes it from natural chicle these days.

When plastics like polyethylene became available in the 1950s, gum manufacturers started using them.