How Chewing Gum is Made?

Many chewing gum manufacturers secretly guard specific ingredients in their chewing gum, but they all share the same basic process to reach their finished product. The manufacturing process is considered standard throughout the industry.

Today, the process of making chewing gum is entirely mechanized. The simplified process requires the following steps: preparing the gum base, adding flavor, increasing chewiness, and cutting and packaging chewing gum. The gum base is mixed with softeners and sweeteners, sterilized, melted in a steam cooker, then pumped through a machine. Other machines then wrap and package the sticks of gum or box and wrap the pellets.

Step by step:

Gum-making begins by preparing the gum base. The gum base must first be harvested and processed if it is natural. The process begins by melting and purifying the gum base. The gum base is placed in a warm room to dry for two days (hot air continually passes over the mixture). The gum base is then sterilized and melted in a steam cooker.
The substance is then pumped into a high-powered centrifuge to rid the gum base of undesirable dirt and bark.
The gum base is cooked and mixed with softeners and sweeteners (and other additives).
The next step is kneading. Extruders (machines) blend, smooth, and form the gum.
A cutting machine cuts the sheets into sticks or small pellets, later candy-coated.
Other machines then carefully wrap and package the gum in air-tight wrappers.
Important step is quality control, where checks are performed to ensure that the chewing gum meets specific taste, texture, and appearance standards.
Distribution is at the end of the process; once packaged, the final product is shipped to distributors, retailers, and consumers worldwide.

All types of chewing gum are made the same way. The gum base for bubble gum is more rubbery to make it stretch without tearing. For candy-coated gums, there is an additional process. Gum balls are soaked in a sucrose solution, dried, and rubbed with beeswax. Gums with liquid centers are filled with sweet liquid candy.

Standards for raw materials are high. Ingredients are inspected and tested at every stage of the manufacturing process. The natural gum base for chewing gum must pass several tests for cleanliness and texture in a research laboratory.