He stumbled upon chicle, a sap from Central American sapodilla trees, and attempted to create rubber with it. When that failed, he turned it into gum and patented a chewing gum machine in 1871.

BBC Science Focus writes that historically, gum was made from the chewy sap of the Sapodilla tree. However nowadays, they say, most companies use a substance called polyisobutylene. That’s the ...

And similarly, although you’re not technically eating it, people can’t believe it after finding out what chewing gum is actually ... the chewy sap of the Sapodilla tree. But nowadays, we ...

The ancient Mayan and Aztec people are believed to be the first groups to discover chewable resin from the bark of sapodilla trees ... Obviously, chewing gum has come a long way since its tree bark ...

BBC Science Focus writes that historically, gum was made from the chewy sap of the Sapodilla tree. However nowadays, they say, most companies use a substance called polyisobutylene. That’s the main ...