Learning how to make homemade gum takes a bit of work, but anyone can do it. While it does take some special ingredients, and adult supervision while the mixture is cooking, kids will enjoy kneading the gum and wrapping it up into pretty packages. Once you've learned how to make gum with this method, you can experiment with different flavors and colors.
Recipe and Steps to Make Homemade Gum
The following recipe makes a gum that is chewable and pliable. You may be able to blow small bubbles, but it will be a little different in texture than what your kids are used to in regular chewing gum. You can also find complete homemade chewing gum kits that have all you need to make your own gum.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/3 cup of gum base pellets (Note: Gum paste does not work.)
- 5 tablespoons of light corn syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon of citric acid
- 4 teaspoons of glycerin
- 5-7 drops of concentrated candy flavoring (your choice; good options include mint, cinnamon, bubble gum and various fruit flavors)
- Food coloring
Supplies:
- Wooden cutting board
- Ceramic or glass microwave-safe bowl; no plastic
- Metal fork and large, metal spoon
- Wrapping supplies such as wax paper and string or candy foil
Directions:
- Before you start cooking the gum base mixture, put your powdered sugar on a wooden cutting board or similar surface. (Note: You want a surface that will not move easily.) Make a well in the middle of the powdered sugar and set aside.
- In the microwaveable bowl, mix gum base pellets, corn syrup, citric acid, and glycerin.
- Place bowl in the microwave and cook mixture on high in 15-second intervals until completely melted. Stir in between the intervals - the mixture will boil.
- When the mixture is completely melted, take the bowl out of the microwave, using oven mitts. Add flavoring and food coloring using a metal fork. (Hint: to help prevent the mixture from sticking, you can coat the fork with a little cooking spray.)
- Mix the flavoring and food coloring in thoroughly, and carefully pour your mixture into the powdered sugar well.
- Mix the powdered sugar into the gum base mixture with a metal fork until it is cool enough to handle with your hands.
- While mixing, add powdered sugar, in small increments, to the mixture if it is too wet or sticky.
- Once the mixture is cool enough, use your hands to knead the gum. Keep kneading until the mixture resembles gum.
- You can roll the mixture into a square and cut sticks out, or pull bite sized pieces from the mixture and roll into a ball.
- Let the gum dry for about 30 minutes to an hour. Make sure it is dry before wrapping.
- Wrap each piece of gum in a small piece of waxed paper or candy foil.
Suggestions:
- Color the gum to resemble the flavor, such as blue for blueberry, or yellow for banana.
- Be creative with flavorings, mixing and matching to form combinations like strawberry banana or cherry cheesecake.
- Sprinkle powdered sugar over the gum before wrapping for an extra bit of sweetness.
- Decorate the wax paper you use to wrap the gum with cutout shapes for a special touch.
Have Fun With the Kids
With adult supervision, making gum can be a fun activity for a rainy day. Make sure to plan in advance though, since you will undoubtedly have to order some of your ingredients. While older kids can probably help with the entire process, have younger kids help specifically with kneading and wrapping - as both of those steps happen after the gum has cooled.
