Chiclets is an American brand of candy-coated

chewing gum Chewing gum is a soft, cohesive substance designed to be chewed without being swallowed. Modern chewing gum is composed of gum base, sweeteners, softeners/plasticizers, flavors, colors, and, typically, a hard or powdered polyol coating. Its tex ...

owned by

Perfetti Van Melle Perfetti Van Melle is an Italian– Dutch multinational company of confectionery Confectionery is the Art (skill), art of making confections, or sweet foods. Confections are items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates, although ex ...

. The brand was introduced in 1900 by the

American Chicle Company The American Chicle Company was a chewing gum trust founded by Thomas Adams, Jr., with Edward E. Beeman and Jonathan Primle. Thomas Adams Thomas Adams (May 4, 1818 – February 7, 1905) was a 19th-century American scientist and inventor who is ...

, a company founded by Thomas Adams.

History

The Chiclets name derives from the

Mexican Spanish Mexican Spanish () is the variety of dialects and sociolects of the Spanish language spoken in Mexico and its bordering regions. Mexico has the largest number of Spanish speakers, more than double any other country in the world. Spanish is spo ...

word "

chicle Chicle () is a natural gum traditionally used in making chewing gum and other products. It is collected from several species of Mesoamerican trees in the genus '' Manilkara'', including '' M. zapota'', '' M. chicle'', '' M. staminodella'', and ...

," from the Aztec

Nahuatl Nahuatl ( ; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahuas, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller popul ...

word "chictli/tzictli", meaning "sticky stuff" and referring to a pre-Columbian chewing gum found throughout Mesoamerica. This pre-Columbian chewing gum was tapped as a sap from various trees. Chiclets are essentially the same as regular chewing gum, with the innovation of a hard sugar coating offered in various flavors and colors. The original flavor was peppermint and assorted fruit flavors were available in Algeria, Argentina, Canada, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, India, Iraq, Lebanon, Mexico, Portugal, Syria, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and parts of the Americas. In some markets, like Mexico, the brand is known as "Adam's Chiclets", named like that after brand founder Thomas Adams. Both in Brazil and in Portugal, the name ''chiclete'' became a generic word for chewing gum due to the popularity of the brand. Various people have been credited with inventing Chiclets, including the brothers Robert and Frank Fleer and Louis Mahle. In 2019, the Saturday Evening Post said that as of 2016, Mondelez had discontinued selling Chiclets in the United States. It has re-appeared as of 2019, manufactured in Mexico. In 2020 the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board held that the Chiclets trademark had not been abandoned. To further confuse the issue it was noted in an article on the Mashed website that Chiclets, identified as Adams Chiclets, were available at

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

Kmart Kmart ( ), formerly legally registered as Kmart Corporation, now operated by Transformco, is a department-store chain and online retailer in the United States and Territories of the United States, its territories. It operates four remaining Kma ...

and

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

in the United States. Ingredient lists now show aspartame being used as a sweetener, while still showing sugar and glucose. On December 19, 2022, Mondelez announced that it was selling its gum business, including the Chiclets brands, to

, the makers of

Mentos Mentos are a brand of packaged scotch mints or mint-flavored candies owned by the Italy, Italian-Netherlands, Dutch company Perfetti Van Melle. First produced in 1932, they are currently sold in more than 130 countries worldwide. The mints are ...

. The deal closed on October 2, 2023. In

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

, the slang term ''spitting chiclets'' describes spitting broken teeth onto the ice (the teeth supposedly resembling Chiclets), a not-uncommon event in ice hockey, where hard blows to the face are a hazard of play. A popular hockey podcast is named ''

Spittin' Chiclets ''Spittin' Chiclets'' is an ice hockey podcast airing once a week produced by Barstool Sports. It is hosted by former National Hockey League players, Paul Bissonnette, Paul "Biz Nasty" Bissonnette, Ryan Whitney (ice hockey), Ryan Whitney and Keit ...

''.

References

External links

* Chewing gum Cadbury Adams brands Products introduced in 1900 {{candy-stub