What did Santa Anna have to do with chewing gum?
By Chelsie Vandaveer
July 9, 2002
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killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~
Suggested Reading—>Click here.
Native to the Gran Peten and the Yucatan of Central America, the chicozapote (Manilkara zapota (L.) van Royen) has been tended since the Mayan civilization. This rainforest tree provides both fruit, the sapodilla, and a latex, chicle. Archaeologists believe only women and children chewed chicle in Maya culture, the habit becoming more popular and widespread during the Aztec.
In 1871, thirty-five years after Texans had defeated Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna y Peréz de Lebrón and won independence from Mexico, the exiled dictator/presidente of Mexico was living in Staten Island, New York. Santa Anna had brought chewing chicle from his homeland giving a sample to his secretary, Thomas Adams. With Santa Anna's encouragement, Adams attempted to manufacture rubber from chicle, but experimentation failed.
Knowing that chicle was chewed in Mexico, it is thought Thomas Adams received inspiration for "Adams' New York Gum" from observing the sales of chewing paraffin and spruce gum sold at pharmacies. The unflavored chicle was a success and several pharmacies began producing mint and licorice flavored chicle. By 1899, Adams merged with the six largest manufacturers forming the American Chicle Company. In 1929, chewing gum earned $60,000,000 wholesale, by 1942, $140,000,000.
Chicle export created a new industry in Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala--the chicleros. Chicleros scarred the tree trunks, collected, and boiled down the latex to form shippable blocks. But little of the wealth created by chewing gum sales reached the chicle collectors. Attempting to maximize their profits, chicleros frequently adulterated the latex with other resins (some poisonous) and even stones. The chewing gum industry responded by making gum from petroleum. By the 1960s, the chicle industry had almost disappeared.
Natural chicle gum is coming into demand and chicleros have organized to conserve the rainforest and create high quality chicle.
Desert-Tropicals has photographs of Manilkara zapota (L.) P. Royen, its fruit, and more information. To view the photographs, click on the link:
http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Sapotaceae/Manilkara_zapota.html
Series: | 1 | | 2 | | 3 |
killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~
Suggested Reading:
Humans or bats, who made chicle a dominant species? Renfield's Garden - July 10, 2002
What hardwood tree has no growth rings? Weird Plants - July 11, 2002
What are Mexican jumping beans? Renfield's Garden - January 19, 2005
What are flowers of benjamin? Plants that Changed History - June 22, 2004
What is cassie? Herbal Folklore - February 9, 2004
How did rubber trees make a knight? Plants that Changed History - September 10, 2002
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