Glee Gum Variety Pack

Contains 21 individual packs, each with 4 pieces of gum
3 flavors: Tangerine, Triple Berry, & Bubblegum

Bubblegum flavor: CANE SUGAR, GLUCOSE, GUM BASE (CONTAINS NATURAL CHICLE), RICE SYRUP, NATURAL FLAVORS, GUM ARABIC, RESINOUS GLAZE, BEESWAX, CARNAUBA WAX AND RED BEET COLOR.

Vegetarian, Additive Free, Lactose Free, Dairy Free, Wheat Free, Gluten Free, Casein Free, Egg Free, Yeast Free, Nut Free, Soy Free, and Peanut Free.

NO artificial preservatives, artificial flavors, artificial colors, artificial sweeteners (e.g. aspartame, saccharin or cyclamate).

This chewing gum is so cool, because it is all-natural. If we look back in history, chewing gum used to be made by the ancient Maya, naturally, from the coagulated sap of the Sapodilla (chicle) tree. Glee Gum has upheld this ancient tradition, and in so doing, is supporting local villagers in Mexico and Guatamala, who are collecting the chicle. This practice also sustains the rainforest, because these trees might otherwise be cut down and entire eco-systems destroyed for lumber.

Plus, Glee Gum makes it fun for children to connect with the world around them, learn about raw materials and resource consumption, and understand how a common product is actually made!

Glee Gum is not sugar-free, and there is a good reason for this. Artificial sweeteners like aspartame have been shown to produce negative side-effects in some people, including headaches, dizziness, attention difficulties, memory loss, slurred speech and vision problems. Additionally, aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful) is manufactured by the chemical giant Monsanto (for an article on the problems with Monsanto, click HERE). We fully agree with Glee Gum that pure cane sugar is much better than the artificial sweeteners that are all around us!

Just like with any candy containing sugar, it is a good idea to brush after chewing/eating.

The bottom line is that Glee Gum is manufactured using pure cane sugar, rice syrup, natural flavorings and colorings, and so you are avoiding all that yucky synthetic stuff that shows up in so many products today: artifical sweeteners, artificial colors, and presevatives.

From the Glee Gum website, a bit about the history of chewing gum:

"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.

1869 marks the year that modern day gum products were born. The famous Mexican General, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna (remember the Alamo?) was looking for a way to commercially exploit the properties of chicle. Unaware of its chewable virtues, Santa Anna originally hoped chicle could be exported as a rubber substitute, and passed it along to American inventor Thomas Adams. Adams found chicle unsuitable as a base for rubber, but realized its potential as a chewing gum after boiling it and rolling it in sugar. His boiled chicle vastly outsold all other varieties of gum available at the time, and thus revolutionized the industry.

The market for chewing gum has grown remarkably through the years, from a yearly consumption in the United States of 39 sticks per person in 1914 to 200 sticks per person today. However, almost all gum is now made completely from synthetic materials. Only Glee chewing gum, and some sold in the Far East contain chicle.

In Guatemala, Mexico, and Belize, chicle still represents an important part of the economy for the chicleros who harvest it. From September to January, a time of torrential rains, the chicleros hike out to remote parts of the rainforest, seeking either virgin chicle trees or those that were tapped several years before. They climb into the tree and make a series of cuts with their machete, taking care that they cut only deep enough to allow the white sap to bleed out, but not deep enough to expose the tree to insects or infection. Each tapping only yields about 2.5 pounds of gum over a six-hour period, and a chiclero will tap 6-12 trees a day in order to make his quota.

The movement for rainforest sustainability depends, in part, on non-timber forest products, advocating for renewable resources that can be made economically viable. Verve hopes that the forest can be more profitable standing than cut down.

Now there's something to chew on, along with your next piece of chicle-based gum!"

 

STARS: 4 1/2 out of 5 stars for naturalness
COMMENTS: Glee Gum is made with all natural ingredients including: pure cane sugar, rice syrup, natural flavorings and colorings. Our gum base has super chewy natural chicle harvested from Sapodilla trees in the rain forests of Central America.

Glee Gum does NOT have: artificial preservatives, artificial flavors, artificial colors, artificial sweeteners (e.g. aspartame, saccharin or cyclamate).

A bit about Verve, the manufacturer of Glee Chewing Gum, from their website:

"In 1992, the concept for Verve was born when we visited an economically depressed chicle-producing community in Northern Guatemala. Up until then, we had never really thought about how chewing gum was made. When we realized its origins, we learned that prior to the synthetic resins, chicle was the basis of the entire industry. Our goal was to support chicle-harvesting by purchasing chicle. With this goal in mind, Verve was born, and with it our first and most popular product, the Make Your Own Chewing Gum Kit.

Today, Verve provides a sustainable source of income for those communities while simultaneously offering fun, educational, and environmentally friendly activities for kids.

Verve's commitment to environmental and social justice is twofold; first, we closely monitor the environmental and social impact of our own business practices, and second, we create products and curriculum that help children think about environmental and social issues in innovative, interesting, and developmentally appropriate ways.

Our finished products are designed to help people think about where products come from, how raw materials and natural resources can be used responsibly, and how communities around the world depend upon one another to help build a healthier future."