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Chicle



Chicle

Manilkara chicle
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Ericales
Family: Sapotaceae
Genus: Manilkara
Species: M. chicle
Binomial name
Manilkara chicle
(Pittier) Gilly

Chicle is the natural gum from Manilkara chicle, which is a tropical evergreen tree native to southern North America and South America. It was traditionally used in chewing gum. While the Wrigley Company was a prominent user of this material, today there are only a few companies that still make chewing gum from natural chicle. This is because by the 1960s chicle was replaced by butadiene-based synthetic rubber (this was cheaper to manufacture).

Chiclets are named after chicle.

The name "chicle" comes from the Nahuatl word for the gum, tziktli ['ʦikt͡ɬi], which can be translated as "sticky stuff". Chicle was well known to the Nahuatl-speaking Aztecs and to the Maya (Amerindians), and early European settlers prized it for its subtle flavour and high sugar content.

Locals who collect chicle are called chicleros.

The tapping of the gum is similar to the tapping of latex from the rubber tree: zig-zag gashes are made in the tree trunk and the dripping gum is collected in small bags. It is then boiled until it reaches the correct thickness. Due to widespread tapping, the Manilkara chicle tree has become scarce and other sources like the related balatá (Manilkara bidentata) are increasing in use.

 
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Chicle". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.
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