Chicle
The chicle or chicle gum is a gummy substance made from the white milky sap of various Manilkara species, a genus of plants in the sapotaceae family.
The name Chicle is derived from the Nahuatl word tzictli or tzicte also chictli for sticky material .
Due to its quality, it is mainly obtained from the pear apple tree ( Manilkara zapote ), but also from the balata tree ( Manilkara bidentata ) and from Manilkara chicle and Manilkara stamonidella . However, other species are also used: Pouteria reticulata and the Panama rubber tree Castilla elastica , although the quality is also poor here. Often, the higher quality “real chicle” of the porridge apple tree is stretched with that of other species to increase the amount.
The milky juice contains about 20-40% of the gummy chicle. The dark brown chicle consists of about 60% resin ( Lupeol , Amyrine), 15–20% rubbery content and sugars.
The rubbery part of the chicle is a mixture of about 1: 1 to 1: 4 of the cis - and trans - polyisoprenes (polyterpenes) with a low degree of polymerization. It is used along with other substances to make chewing gum . At ordinary temperature it is firm, brittle and odorless; in hot water at 50 ° C it becomes plastic like gutta-percha .
Similar products are the gutta-percha and the balata, which come from the milky sap of other plant species, in which the polyisoprenes of the rubbery part are trans -configured. The guayule ( Parthenium argentatum ) is also still used to a greater extent, here the polyisoprene are cis -configured as with natural rubber .
The material was already used 2000 BC. Used by the Maya . One knew of the calming effect of constant chewing and chewed on pieces of solidified chicle.
The American Thomas Adams first discovered the chicle in 1857 through the secretary of the Mexican politician and general Antonio López de Santa Anna, who was in exile . He first tried to use it as a substitute for natural rubber. After these attempts remained unsuccessful, he and his sons came up with the idea of selling the mass in the form of small balls as "chewing gum" in 1859, after hearing that the chicle was also being chewed. It was only later that sugar and other substances were added.
Extraction
To obtain chicle sap, the tree is tapped by cutting a zigzag-shaped channel into the bark and collecting the milky sap that runs out. The main distribution area of this plant are the regions of Yucatán , Veracruz and Campeche . The port city of Ciudad del Carmen is considered the main Mexican hub . In the past, the bulk of chicles was exported to the United States. In addition to Mexico, there was further recovery regions in Guatemala , Colombia , Belize and Venezuela .
Terminology
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In Spanish , chewing gum is still called chicle , in Greek as τσίκλα (tsíkla) and in Portuguese as chiclete . In Turkish , chewing gum actually means sakız , but is colloquially called ciklet .
A chiclero is a worker who climbs the chicle trees to extract their sap.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Entry on “Chicle” in the Lexicon of Biology , accessed on February 6, 2012.
- ↑ Umberto Quattrocchi: CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names. Vol. III: M-Q , CRC Press, 2000, ISBN 0-8493-2677-X , p. 1610.
- ^ Daniel F. Austin: Florida Ethnobotany. CRC Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0-203-49188-1 , p. 432.
- ↑ a b Jennifer P. Mathews, Gillia P. Schultz: Chicle: The Chewing Gum of the Americas ... University of Arizona Press, 2009, ISBN 978-0-8165-2624-6 , pp. 21 f., 40– 43.
- ^ Samuel Bridgewater: A Natural History of Belize. University of Texas Press, 2012, ISBN 978-0-292-72671-0 , p. 182.
- ↑ Entry on Sapodilla. In: Römpp Online . Georg Thieme Verlag, accessed on May 25, 2014.
- ^ Elsa Franke, Reinhard Lieberei, Christoph Reisdorff: Useful plants. 8th edition, Thieme, 2012, ISBN 978-3-13-530408-3 , p. 394.
- ↑ Ikhlas A. Khan, Ehab A. Abourashed: Leung's Encyclopedia of Common Natural Ingredients. Third Edition, Wiley, 2011, ISBN 978-1-118-21306-3 .
- ↑ A. Steinbüchel, T. Koyama: Biopolymers. Volume 2: Polyisoprenoids , Wiley, 2001, ISBN 978-3-527-30221-5 , p. 11.
- ↑ R. Hansel, O. Sticher, E. Steinegger: Pharmakognosie - Phytopharmazie. Volume 1, 6th edition, Springer, 1999, ISBN 978-3-662-09270-5 , p. 49.
- ↑ Entry on chewing gum. In: Römpp Online . Georg Thieme Verlag, accessed on May 25, 2014.
- ↑ Victor Grafe (Ed.) Et al .: Grafes Handbuch der organic commodity science. Volume I, 1st half volume Commercial basics of product knowledge and knowledge of goods. Stuttgart 1930, p. 316.
- ↑ Alexander Tschirch : The resins and the resin containers with inclusion of the milk juices. 1st volume, Leipzig 1906, p. 975.
- ↑ A 'Chiclero' at Work - in the forest area in Mexico. - "A Chiclero is a person who climbs the Chicle tree, the sap of which is the basis of chewing gum."