When you pop a piece of gum into your mouth, you’re more likely to be concerned with its taste and bubble capabilities than with its history. But if you were to wonder about the origins of your gum, you’d have a lot more to chew on. The story behind chewing gum is a flavorful one, complete with an unlikely partnership between a famous Mexican general and an American inventor, wild get-rich-quick schemes, and the mastication habits of a lost civilization.
Chewing for pleasure goes back to the Ancient Greeks, who chewed on the resin of the mastic tree. The Maya, too, developed the custom well over a thousand years ago, chewing the coagulated sap of the Sapodilla tree, a treat known today as chicle. The Maya abandoned their cities for mysterious reasons around the year 800, but fortunately for us, they retained their custom of chewing chicle
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