what’s in gum that makes it so chewy how
does this chewy stuff work and can I
make it from scratch ingredients chewing
gum is one of the weirdest things we put
in our mouths I mean think about your
mouth for a second your teeth are harder
than bone iron or steel your jaw muscle
the main one is one of the strongest in
your entire body and your saliva has
enzymes in it that start digesting food
before it even gets to your stomach but
all that which has no problem breaking
up almost any other food is basically
useless when it comes to gum I mean yes
the flavor is gone in minutes but the
gum itself that stays chewy for a long
time I don’t even know how long because
there’s no Guinness world record for it
I know that I’ve been chewing this piece
in my mouth for like 20 minutes and it’s
totally fine so what the hell is in gum
that makes it so magical every single
one of these gums has an ingredient
called gum base except it’s not one
ingredient it’s a catch-all that the FDA
allows manufacturers to put on the label
to hide the ingredient or ingredients
that they’re actually using presumably
this is to prevent corporate espionage
so if you actually go to the Code of
Federal Regulations and look up what’s
allowed to be in gum base which I did
you’ll find a slightly intimidating list
of 46 different ingredients which seems
like a lot until you realize that the
FDA does not limit manufacturers to just
using one of those ingredients so let’s
do a little bit of math the 46
ingredients are divided up into five
categories with 28:13 two and three
ingredients respectively now let’s
assume that manufacturers will only
choose one ingredient per category that
gives us twelve thousand four hundred
and eighty combinations but it’s
actually more than that because
manufacturers do not have to use every
single category so the bottom line is
that those two little words on the pack
of your gum gum base can legally refer
to 30 1752 mixtures of ingredients but
let’s step back for a second why are
there even 46 different ingredients to
choose from well basically it’s because
people have been chewing stuff for a
really long time and we get really
creative about what we chew frankincense
mastic chicle and spruce
tree resin to name a few people have
also chewed beeswax and paraffin wax so
what is all that stuff chemically well
frankincense mastic spruce tree resin
and chicle hence the name Chiclets are
all tree resins they come from different
species of trees and chemically they’re
mixtures of two sets of molecules called
terpenoids and phenols terpenoids in
particular are responsible for some of
the most dazzlingly diverse stuff in
nature like that delicious Christmas
tree scent or the carotene in a carrot
or Lannister all the granddaddy of all
steroids now all terpenoids are made
from a five-carbon building block called
isoprene and they’re classified by how
many isoprene units they have so Hemi
terpenoids have one isoprene unit or
five carbons monoterpene OIG’s have two
isoprene units or ten carbons and so on
someone arbitrarily we stop caring at
about nine so anything with nine or more
is called a poly terpenoid the most
famous poly turpenoid is sis poly
isoprene also known as natural rubber
and yes this is one of the ingredients
that the FDA allows manufacturers to put
in gum base so does that mean that we’re
all just chewing sweetened or rubber
bands answer is no for two reasons first
rubber bands and other rubbers like car
tires are vulcanized which is a process
that deserves its own episode gum rubber
is not but second and more importantly
even though manufacturers are
technically allowed to use natural
rubber in gum my guess is that they
probably don’t or don’t use very much
instead they use synthetic polymers like
styrene butadiene polyethylene or
polyvinyl acetate because either they’re
cheaper or the supply doesn’t dry out
but you know what that is a total and
utter guess because FDA thanks guys on
to waxes beeswax is the spiritual mother
of all waxes and paraffin wax is made
from petroleum
now chemically waxes are different from
both resins and polymers they’re mostly
long-chain alkanes alcohols and esters
similar to what you might find in a
candle
now as you can imagine every one of
these resins polymers and waxes have
their own specific taste and texture
which is what explains the difference
between this kind of gum and bubble gum
or bubble gum and this incidentally
genius piece of marketing let’s put gum
in the same package as medicine to make
you think it’s good for you well done
anyway all these resins polymers and
waxes are pretty chewy can’t really
dissolve in water and aren’t broken down
by amylase the enzyme that’s in your
saliva so that’s why you can chew gum
for such a long time so now that we’ve
unraveled the mystery of gum base I’m
gonna try and make my own from scratch
using only natural ingredients it’s
gonna be trial and error and my trial is
gonna be really simple I’m gonna use
mastic gum which comes from the mastic
tree and beeswax to soften up the mastic
which on its own is sort of tough and
sticky and I’m gonna use soy lecithin to
try and keep these two guys together so
let’s do this and see what happens
[Music]
all right let’s give this a shot
[Music]
chew it I’m gonna get up start out quite
hard but some wonderful IVA starts
choking get in there oh my god hey this
is working
I’ll believe this I’m chewing gum right
now guys nice and stretchy and it’s not
sticky see it looks just like gum I
guess I shouldn’t be that surprised
because people have been chewing mastic
for a long time but normally when you to
mastic is really sticky and this is the
beeswax really softens it up I don’t
mind the taste please a bit of sugar
about where did that in a different
episode anyway so movie ideas for a
better recipe or you want to you know
whatever just hit me up I’m on Twitter
this is amazing
[Music]
you
[Music]
does this chewy stuff work and can I
make it from scratch ingredients chewing
gum is one of the weirdest things we put
in our mouths I mean think about your
mouth for a second your teeth are harder
than bone iron or steel your jaw muscle
the main one is one of the strongest in
your entire body and your saliva has
enzymes in it that start digesting food
before it even gets to your stomach but
all that which has no problem breaking
up almost any other food is basically
useless when it comes to gum I mean yes
the flavor is gone in minutes but the
gum itself that stays chewy for a long
time I don’t even know how long because
there’s no Guinness world record for it
I know that I’ve been chewing this piece
in my mouth for like 20 minutes and it’s
totally fine so what the hell is in gum
that makes it so magical every single
one of these gums has an ingredient
called gum base except it’s not one
ingredient it’s a catch-all that the FDA
allows manufacturers to put on the label
to hide the ingredient or ingredients
that they’re actually using presumably
this is to prevent corporate espionage
so if you actually go to the Code of
Federal Regulations and look up what’s
allowed to be in gum base which I did
you’ll find a slightly intimidating list
of 46 different ingredients which seems
like a lot until you realize that the
FDA does not limit manufacturers to just
using one of those ingredients so let’s
do a little bit of math the 46
ingredients are divided up into five
categories with 28:13 two and three
ingredients respectively now let’s
assume that manufacturers will only
choose one ingredient per category that
gives us twelve thousand four hundred
and eighty combinations but it’s
actually more than that because
manufacturers do not have to use every
single category so the bottom line is
that those two little words on the pack
of your gum gum base can legally refer
to 30 1752 mixtures of ingredients but
let’s step back for a second why are
there even 46 different ingredients to
choose from well basically it’s because
people have been chewing stuff for a
really long time and we get really
creative about what we chew frankincense
mastic chicle and spruce
tree resin to name a few people have
also chewed beeswax and paraffin wax so
what is all that stuff chemically well
frankincense mastic spruce tree resin
and chicle hence the name Chiclets are
all tree resins they come from different
species of trees and chemically they’re
mixtures of two sets of molecules called
terpenoids and phenols terpenoids in
particular are responsible for some of
the most dazzlingly diverse stuff in
nature like that delicious Christmas
tree scent or the carotene in a carrot
or Lannister all the granddaddy of all
steroids now all terpenoids are made
from a five-carbon building block called
isoprene and they’re classified by how
many isoprene units they have so Hemi
terpenoids have one isoprene unit or
five carbons monoterpene OIG’s have two
isoprene units or ten carbons and so on
someone arbitrarily we stop caring at
about nine so anything with nine or more
is called a poly terpenoid the most
famous poly turpenoid is sis poly
isoprene also known as natural rubber
and yes this is one of the ingredients
that the FDA allows manufacturers to put
in gum base so does that mean that we’re
all just chewing sweetened or rubber
bands answer is no for two reasons first
rubber bands and other rubbers like car
tires are vulcanized which is a process
that deserves its own episode gum rubber
is not but second and more importantly
even though manufacturers are
technically allowed to use natural
rubber in gum my guess is that they
probably don’t or don’t use very much
instead they use synthetic polymers like
styrene butadiene polyethylene or
polyvinyl acetate because either they’re
cheaper or the supply doesn’t dry out
but you know what that is a total and
utter guess because FDA thanks guys on
to waxes beeswax is the spiritual mother
of all waxes and paraffin wax is made
from petroleum
now chemically waxes are different from
both resins and polymers they’re mostly
long-chain alkanes alcohols and esters
similar to what you might find in a
candle
now as you can imagine every one of
these resins polymers and waxes have
their own specific taste and texture
which is what explains the difference
between this kind of gum and bubble gum
or bubble gum and this incidentally
genius piece of marketing let’s put gum
in the same package as medicine to make
you think it’s good for you well done
anyway all these resins polymers and
waxes are pretty chewy can’t really
dissolve in water and aren’t broken down
by amylase the enzyme that’s in your
saliva so that’s why you can chew gum
for such a long time so now that we’ve
unraveled the mystery of gum base I’m
gonna try and make my own from scratch
using only natural ingredients it’s
gonna be trial and error and my trial is
gonna be really simple I’m gonna use
mastic gum which comes from the mastic
tree and beeswax to soften up the mastic
which on its own is sort of tough and
sticky and I’m gonna use soy lecithin to
try and keep these two guys together so
let’s do this and see what happens
[Music]
all right let’s give this a shot
[Music]
chew it I’m gonna get up start out quite
hard but some wonderful IVA starts
choking get in there oh my god hey this
is working
I’ll believe this I’m chewing gum right
now guys nice and stretchy and it’s not
sticky see it looks just like gum I
guess I shouldn’t be that surprised
because people have been chewing mastic
for a long time but normally when you to
mastic is really sticky and this is the
beeswax really softens it up I don’t
mind the taste please a bit of sugar
about where did that in a different
episode anyway so movie ideas for a
better recipe or you want to you know
whatever just hit me up I’m on Twitter
this is amazing
[Music]
you
[Music]
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