Manilkara Chicle - Chicle

Chicle is both a common name for Manilkara chicle and a more general term for the type of latex exuded by Mesoamerican trees of the Manilkara genus. Common source of chicle is Manilkara zapota.

The word chicle comes from the Nahuatl word for the gum, tziktli, which can be translated as "sticky stuff". Alternatively, "chichle" may have come from the Mayan word tsicte. Chicle was well known to the Nahuatl-speaking Aztecs and to the Maya, and early European settlers prized it for its subtle flavour and high sugar content. The ancient word is still used in the Americas, chicle being a common term for chewing gum in Spanish and chiclete being the Brazilian Portuguese term.

While the Wrigley Company was a prominent user of this material in the production of chewing gum, today only a few companies still make chewing gum from natural chicle. This is because, by the 1960s, chicle was replaced by butadiene-based synthetic rubber which was cheaper to manufacture. The Chiclets brand of chewing gum is named after chicle.

The tapping of the gum is similar to the tapping of latex from the rubber tree: zig-zag gashes are made in the tree trunk and the dripping gum is collected in small bags. It is then boiled until it reaches the correct thickness. Locals who collect chicle are called chicleros. Due to widespread tapping, the Manilkara chicle tree has become scarce, and other sources, such as the related balatá (M. bidentata) are increasing in use.

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 Wrigley Gum Company refused to continue buying Guatemalan chicle. Since it was the sole buyer of Guatemalan chicle, the government was forced to create a massive aid program for growers.