I have to convey my thanks to the late John Colgan. Because without this Louisville pharmacist, I don't know how I'd get through a week. Of course, I'll explain.
First, let me explain that the reference in the title has nothing to do with bourbon balls. Yes, they were invented in Kentucky, but, no, I'm not sure they could be accurately described as "chewy." But chewing gum can. candy chewy
Now, before you start worrying about me, I can get through a week without chewing gum. I just don't think I ever have. I've been a gum chewer, for better or worse (talk to my dentists), since my first piece of Wrigley's as a child, and I haven't looked back.
That's so weird. I remember "We all like the way it says hello" like it was yesterday.
Well, anyway, Wrigley's is THE iconic brand when it comes to chewing gum, but without the aforementioned John Colgan, we wouldn't even have that.
But first, let's start with Ohio dentist William F. Semple who filed an early patent on chewing gum in 1869. It was intended as a teeth cleaner and jaw strengthener, NOT as candy. I mean, he was a dentist. That would have been counterproductive.
Down in Louisville, in that same decade, Colgan was mixing powdered sugar with a flavoring called tolu, an extract from the balsam tree. With that flavored additive, Colgan began making small sticks of chewing gum called taffy tolu. It was Colgan who secured patents for device that cut sticks of chewing gum from larger sticks and for creating the wrappers for the gum. And just like that, chewing gum went from being just a dental care product to becoming a taste treat. Before too long, iconic brands like Adams, Black Jack, and Chiclets emerged. And at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, this bit of history was made:
candy tablet If you're chewing gum right now, you have a 19th-century Louisville pharmacist to thank for it. I bet you didn't realize you'd learn THAT today.