Well now howdy, yall? Recently I tried a period-correct chewing gum. Spruce gum:
Natives had been collecting it for centuries and when the pioneers came through the Northwest regions they encountered it and adopted it. By the early 1800s (late flintlock to early percussion period) there started to become an industry around spruce gum and it retained high popularity up until the early 20th Century when chicle and later synthetic gum took over:
I bought some off Etsy from a maker in Maine and it’s really interesting. Crumbly at first, and a little bitter, but has an incredible fresh piney flavor that lasts and lasts non stop. It’s like walking through an X-mas tree forest. It’s funny because you can take it out of your mouth and in just a minute it’ll re-harden. It doesn’t stick to teeth at all like how you might think and is relatively filling friendly.
I really enjoy it and would make a great historically accurate period substitute for chewing gum. I’m going to tuck some in my hunting pouch for sure. Try it!
-Smokey
Natives had been collecting it for centuries and when the pioneers came through the Northwest regions they encountered it and adopted it. By the early 1800s (late flintlock to early percussion period) there started to become an industry around spruce gum and it retained high popularity up until the early 20th Century when chicle and later synthetic gum took over:
I bought some off Etsy from a maker in Maine and it’s really interesting. Crumbly at first, and a little bitter, but has an incredible fresh piney flavor that lasts and lasts non stop. It’s like walking through an X-mas tree forest. It’s funny because you can take it out of your mouth and in just a minute it’ll re-harden. It doesn’t stick to teeth at all like how you might think and is relatively filling friendly.
I really enjoy it and would make a great historically accurate period substitute for chewing gum. I’m going to tuck some in my hunting pouch for sure. Try it!
-Smokey