Black Jack & Clove, But No Beeman's

The patches of snow outside my window are as scattered as Micronesian islands, replaced by squishy flats of brown-green grass. Even those holdout snow-islands are doomed: temps were above 50° F. today, maybe even touching 60 (which would be the first time since before November), and they will be tomorrow too. Of course, none of that means that it can't snow again next week or even next month, but it does mean that the snow won't last for weeks and weeks as ground cover. It's the mud season now.

The little sign at the discount grocery store today said: "Nostalgic Gum." I had to take a look at that. Two of the three advertised brands were still in stock, so I bought one of each: Black Jack and Clove.

Nostalgic, eh? Just chewing it takes you back to wherever your nostalgic sweet spot lies, maybe. Except that I'm not much of a gum consumer, and I didn't recognize the brands (the missing one was Beeman's).

But every package tells a story, and these sticks of gum trace their roots to Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón, in an indirect sort of way. Santa Anna sold the first lot of chicle, the original basis for modern chewing gum, to one Thomas Adams of Staten Island, who eventually created Black Jack and Clove and other brands.

Black Jack has licorice flavor, but the first ingredient is still sugar. "Gum base" is second, but I understand the sap of the chicle tree isn't much used for that anymore. Then again, maybe it is, because the gum is made in Columbia. Apparently Cadbury, which owns the brands now, makes a batch of each every few years to satisfy the nostalgic or merely curious (like me), but they aren't regular production items.