WEBVTT - What Exactly Is Bubblegum Flavor — and Why Pink?

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<v Speaker 1>This is lavib and this is our American stories. Chewing

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<v Speaker 1>gum has been around for centuries, from the ancient Greeks

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<v Speaker 1>to the American Indians. Everyone's chewed it, but the best

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<v Speaker 1>kind of gum, bubblegum, wasn't invented until nineteen twenty eight.

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<v Speaker 1>For you to tell the story is Simon Whistler from

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<v Speaker 1>the Today I found Out YouTube channel and its sister,

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<v Speaker 1>the Brain Food Show podcast. Let's take a listen.

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<v Speaker 2>Bubble gum, the ambiguously flavored, obnoxiously pink candy gum is

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<v Speaker 2>the favorite treat of violence. Beauregart. Now this little number or.

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<v Speaker 1>Such as or Violet, would you care to say if

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<v Speaker 1>you works dilation here.

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<v Speaker 3>It is gune ticket number three and it's all lost.

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<v Speaker 2>So what happened?

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<v Speaker 1>Violet?

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<v Speaker 3>Whom gum? True? Normally? But when I heard about these

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<v Speaker 3>ticket things wong as I laid off the gum and

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<v Speaker 3>switched to candy bars instead. Now, of course I'm back

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<v Speaker 3>on gum. I chewed all day except at meal times

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<v Speaker 3>when I stick a pian my ear Wiler's toll it mother.

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<v Speaker 3>And this piece of gum here is one that I've

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<v Speaker 3>been chewing on for three months solid and that's a

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<v Speaker 3>world record. It's beaten the record held by my best friend,

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<v Speaker 3>Miss Cornelia Prince Metal. And was she met how counya?

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah? Why are speaking?

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<v Speaker 2>Let me just from moment of Susan first, the story

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<v Speaker 2>of how bubble gum became the thing at all. In

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<v Speaker 2>nineteen twenty eight, water Dimer was working as an accountant

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<v Speaker 2>for the now to funct candy and baseball card manufacturer Flea.

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<v Speaker 2>At this time, Flair was struggling financially when then presidents

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<v Speaker 2>of the company, Gilbert Mustin, hit upon the idea of

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<v Speaker 2>creating his own gum base to improve profit margins. At

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<v Speaker 2>the time, they bought their gum products from another manufacturer

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<v Speaker 2>before repackaging it and selling it. Towards this ends, must

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<v Speaker 2>And began tinkering with recipes, but was frequently called away

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<v Speaker 2>from his work to answer the building's only phone, which

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<v Speaker 2>was on the first floor, while his office and the

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<v Speaker 2>mixers rather the third. Accordingly, whenever was called away, Dimer,

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<v Speaker 2>who worked in an office next door, was called upon

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<v Speaker 2>to watch over the latest gunbatch or land a hand

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<v Speaker 2>when necessary. Over time, Mustin began to trust the twenty

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<v Speaker 2>three year old accountants to such an extent that he

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<v Speaker 2>was allowed to experiment on his own time a perk,

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<v Speaker 2>Dimer took frequent advantage of, often spending many hours after

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<v Speaker 2>a shift mixing random flavors together and tinkering with the

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<v Speaker 2>flear gum based recipe in order to improve it. Dimer

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<v Speaker 2>claims he stumbled across the formula for bubblegum partially by accident,

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<v Speaker 2>after about a year of tinkering. In his own words,

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<v Speaker 2>it was an accident. I was doing something else and

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<v Speaker 2>ended up with something with bubbles. That said, as with

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<v Speaker 2>many of these supposed accidents, this isn't quite correct. Diamond's

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<v Speaker 2>goal was always to create a kind of gum you

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<v Speaker 2>could blow bubbles with. So while it's nice to think

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<v Speaker 2>that Dimer accidentally mixed a bunch of chemicals together and

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<v Speaker 2>stumbled across a lotto ticket recipe, the reality is that

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<v Speaker 2>he spent many hundreds of hours meticulously mixing batches of

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<v Speaker 2>gum together in the hopes of getting the formula for

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<v Speaker 2>bubble I'm just right coming remarkably close to doing so

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<v Speaker 2>on several occasions, only for the results not to repeat

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<v Speaker 2>when mixed again. Dimer's inspiration for bubblegum was an earlier,

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<v Speaker 2>never released prototype product created by Flear's founder, Frank H. Fleer.

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<v Speaker 2>This was created in nineteen oh six and it was

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<v Speaker 2>called blibber Blubber. Like bubblegum, Blibber Blubber could be used

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<v Speaker 2>to blow bubbles. However, the gum would stick to teeth, lips,

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<v Speaker 2>and cheeks. It was much too wet and had poor elasticity.

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<v Speaker 2>This resulted in any bubbles you've managed to blow popping quickly,

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<v Speaker 2>splattering saliva everywhere, and then adhering tightly to your face

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<v Speaker 2>and lips. While Diamer's exact recipe isn't publicly known, he

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<v Speaker 2>claimed that he was able to fix the former problem

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<v Speaker 2>by adding some unspecified amount of latex, resulting in a

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<v Speaker 2>more elastic and less sticky gum. That said, this wasn't

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<v Speaker 2>the only tweak needed, as in his earliest near hits

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<v Speaker 2>at inventing bubblegum, the resulting gum worked perfectly at first,

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<v Speaker 2>but had an extremely short shelf life due to an

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<v Speaker 2>issue with hard up within a matter of hours after

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<v Speaker 2>being made. It was this problem that was eventually accidentally

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<v Speaker 2>fixed by Diner, though he never publicly mentioned how he

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<v Speaker 2>fixed it nor why the solution was supposedly accidentally stumbled

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<v Speaker 2>upon him. Today, wax is typically added to gum to

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<v Speaker 2>keep it soft at room temperature, and some form of

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<v Speaker 2>powder like corn starches used to keep it from becoming

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<v Speaker 2>too sticky, whatever the case. After inventing bubblegum, Dimer scaled

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<v Speaker 2>up the recipe and created three hundred pounds of it.

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<v Speaker 2>This brings us to why bubble gum is nearly always pink.

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<v Speaker 2>According to Dimer, when the time came to add food

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<v Speaker 2>colouring to his first proper batch of bubblegum, the only

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<v Speaker 2>coloring the company had on hand was pink, which just

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<v Speaker 2>so happened to be his favorite color. And if that

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<v Speaker 2>made you go hmm, well, around this time, pink was

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<v Speaker 2>actually considered a masculine color and blue was a favorite

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<v Speaker 2>feminine color. With no other triice available to him, Dimer

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<v Speaker 2>poured an entire bottle of pink food colouring into the mixer,

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<v Speaker 2>giving the candy it's now iconic, obnoxiously loud colour. A

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<v Speaker 2>Over the years, as more companies attempted to create competing products,

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<v Speaker 2>they similarly colored it pink, leading to it becoming the

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<v Speaker 2>go to colour for bubblegum. Ultimately, Flea settled on the

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<v Speaker 2>name double Bubble for the product, and deciding to individually

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<v Speaker 2>package the candy in a manner not too dissimilar to

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<v Speaker 2>how pieces of taffy are traditionally sold, and then send

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<v Speaker 2>one hundred sample pieces to a small store located at

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<v Speaker 2>twenty six Chemek Taddy Street, Philadelphia. The stork sold out

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<v Speaker 2>within a day, prompting Flear to make several more tons

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<v Speaker 2>of the bubblegum and begin widely marketing it. In the

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<v Speaker 2>first year of bubblegum sales alone, Fleer sold one point

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<v Speaker 2>five million dollars worth of the gun, which is about

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<v Speaker 2>twenty one million dollars to day, literally saving the company,

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<v Speaker 2>though Dymer himself never received a dime extra for his

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<v Speaker 2>non accounting invention. However, in recognition of his integral role

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<v Speaker 2>in the creation of the product that saved the company,

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<v Speaker 2>Flair promptly fired Dimer from his role as company accountant

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<v Speaker 2>and made him an executive of sales. His job then

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<v Speaker 2>included training sales on how to blow bubbles so they

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<v Speaker 2>could demonstrate the product to potential customers. Originally priced that

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<v Speaker 2>just a penny, bubblegum proved to be immensely popular with

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<v Speaker 2>depression eury customers, and as a result, Diimer's job, which

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<v Speaker 2>he formerly was close to losing due to the company

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<v Speaker 2>being close to going under, proved to be both secure

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<v Speaker 2>and rather lucrative during one of the most financially taxing

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<v Speaker 2>times in American history. While he received no royalties from

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<v Speaker 2>the product, as the years passed, Dimer was paid to

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<v Speaker 2>travel the globe promoting Double Bubble, eventually being promoted to

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<v Speaker 2>senior vice presidents and serving on the company's board of directors.

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<v Speaker 2>He continued to hold the latter board seat for some

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<v Speaker 2>fifteen years after he retired in nineteen seventy. Even after retiring,

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<v Speaker 2>Dimer's love for bubblegum never socided, and he could frequently

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<v Speaker 2>be found literally riding an adult sized tricycle around his

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<v Speaker 2>retirement village in Pennsylvania, throwing handfuls of free bubblegum, of

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<v Speaker 2>which he was given a lifetime supply by Flear, to

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<v Speaker 2>local children. He also reportedly occasionally invited neighborhood children over

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<v Speaker 2>to his house for bubblegum blowing parties. According to Diamer's

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<v Speaker 2>second wife, Florence, who he married at the age of

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<v Speaker 2>ninety one, his first wife, Adelaide, died in nineteen ninety four,

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<v Speaker 2>years after their two children, both died in nineteen eighty six,

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<v Speaker 2>though at least leaving them with many grandchildren and great grandchildren.

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<v Speaker 2>He made it explicitly clear late in life that he

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<v Speaker 2>didn't care about not receiving any money for his creation,

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<v Speaker 2>something that would have made him enormously wealthy had he

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<v Speaker 2>patented it. As the man himself noted shortly before his

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<v Speaker 2>death at the age of ninety two on January the ninth,

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<v Speaker 2>nineteen eighty eight, I've done something with my life. I've

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<v Speaker 2>made kids happy around the world. Okay, so this brings

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<v Speaker 2>us around to what the standard flavor of bubblegum is

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<v Speaker 2>supposed to taste like. The original formula used by Flair

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<v Speaker 2>was intentionally never elaborated upon, and the recipe is now

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<v Speaker 2>considered to be a trade secret in the same vein

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<v Speaker 2>as products like Coca cola and pepsi. That said, the

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<v Speaker 2>original ingredients list included sugar, dextro's corn syrup, gum based

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<v Speaker 2>high fryptose corn syrup, artificial flavor color, cornstarch, and BHT.

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<v Speaker 2>Digging a little deeper, we have a rough idea of

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<v Speaker 2>the base flavor ingredients based on interviews with Dimer, who

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<v Speaker 2>claims he originally used a combination of winter green, peppermint, vanilla,

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<v Speaker 2>and cinnamon in unspecified quantities to come up with the

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<v Speaker 2>flavor for the first of a batch of bubblegum. This

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<v Speaker 2>contrasts slightly with other sources who contest that bubblegum flavor

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<v Speaker 2>is actually created using a mixture of several natural and

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<v Speaker 2>artificial fruit flavors, usually strawberry, pineapple, and banana, in varying quantities,

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<v Speaker 2>so in the end, the flavor is an artificial construct

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<v Speaker 2>with no analog in nature. Given this, the answer to

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<v Speaker 2>the question of what is bubblegum supposed to taste like?

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<v Speaker 2>Is well?

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<v Speaker 1>Bubblegum in a terrific job on the production, editing and

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<v Speaker 1>storytelling by our own Greg Hangler and a special thanks

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<v Speaker 1>to Simon Whistler from the Today I Found Out YouTube

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<v Speaker 1>channel and its sister, the Brain Food Show podcast. Go

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<v Speaker 1>to both, visit them, visit them often, and boy, what

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<v Speaker 1>a terrific story about an inventor who was an accountant,

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<v Speaker 1>never got royalties, didn't get the patent, but saved his company.

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<v Speaker 1>And we're talking about Walter Dimer and in nineteen twenty eight, well,

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<v Speaker 1>he had to try and figure out some way to

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<v Speaker 1>save his company, and he did. And the whole notion

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<v Speaker 1>that this happened by accident, well that's kind of debunked

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<v Speaker 1>because accidents happened to people who were trying to create

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<v Speaker 1>something and spend their times in labs, hundreds of hours

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<v Speaker 1>mixing batches of formula to get to the outcome they

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<v Speaker 1>want to get, which in this case is one of

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<v Speaker 1>the great confectioneries in human history. Doubble Bubble. By the way,

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<v Speaker 1>we've done many food stories, Fanny Farmer, Little Debbie, Fast Food,

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<v Speaker 1>Higly Wiggly, Jelly, Belly, Trader, Joe's, even BUCkies is kind

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<v Speaker 1>of a food story. The story of Bubblegum here on

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<v Speaker 1>our American Stories