Since it was the sole buyer of Guatemalan chicle, the government was forced to create a massive aid program for growers. In response to a land reform law passed in Guatemala in 1952 which ended feudal work relations and expropriated unused lands and sold them to the indigenous and peasants, the William Wrigley Company discontinued buying Guatemalan chicle. Its brand name, Chiclets, is derived from the word chicle. The American company American Chicle Company, incorporated in June 1899, was the first prominent commercial user of this ingredient in the production of chewing gum. Chicle was also used by the Maya as a filling for tooth cavities. It was chewed as a way to stave off hunger, freshen breath, and keep teeth clean. The word has also been exported to other languages such as Greek, which refers to chewing gum as τσίχλα ( tsichla).īoth the Aztecs and Maya traditionally chewed chicle. The word is used in the Americas and Spain to refer to chewing gum, chicle being a common term for it in Spanish and chiclete being the Portuguese term (both in Brazil and in parts of Portugal other areas also use the term chicla).
Chicle was well known to the Aztecs and to the Maya, and early European settlers prized it for its subtle flavor and high sugar content. Alternatively, it may have come from the Mayan word tsicte. The word chicle comes from the Nahuatl word for the gum, tzictli, which can be translated as 'sticky stuff'. Look up chicle in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
