Will We Ever Know What Flavor Juicy Fruit Gum Actually Is?

Before Trident and Bazooka, Hubba Bubba and Big League Chew, there was Juicy Fruit. And although gum chewing has recently hit an overall slump, the tasty gum in its signature yellow packaging has been delighting gum chewers for well over 100 years. While many have guessed the flavors of this unique gum, it's safe to say that no one has hit the nail on the head ... of course, if someone has, we'd never know it.

In 2002, one fan claimed to have emailed the makers of Juicy Fruit at the Wrigley Company, inquiring about the curious flavors of the gum. Nancy Slivoski (the Consumer Affairs Coordinator at the time) responded: "I'm afraid we can't be very specific because, for competitive reasons, we consider our Juicy Fruit flavoring formula to be a trade secret. I can, however, tell you that the mixture of fruit flavors in Juicy Fruit is comprised of predominantly lemon, orange, pineapple, and banana notes."

While food and beverage companies in the U.S. are required to disclose a product's ingredients, there are some vague descriptions allowed, like the use of terms such as "natural flavoring," "spices," and "artificial flavoring." Loopholes like this mean trade secrets can be kept concealed, and the continuous mystery of Juicy Fruit goes on.

While it's been confirmed that lemon, orange, pineapple, and banana make up some of Juicy Fruit's flavor profile, there are several people who believe the unique flavor is similar to jackfruit, a tropical tree fruit native to Asia, South America, and Africa (which happens to make a great plant-based holiday feast, by the way). But keen researchers have taken note that jackfruit has never been imported into the Wrigley manufacturing plant. Still, the jackfruit essence may come from a chemical called isoamyl acetate, which is found in many bubble gums and is also produced naturally in some ripe fruits, including jackfruit. It has been compared to banana and pear, two flavors that could conceivably be detected in Juicy Fruit.

The gum's ingredient list consists of sugar, gum base, corn syrup, dextrose, natural and artificial flavors (herein lies the fruity mystery), aspartame, glycerol, soy lecithin, acesulfame K, hydroxylated soy lecithin, color added, and BHT — none of which gives a clear indicator of what gum chewers are tasting. Whatever fruits are responsible for Juicy Fruit's flavor, you can't deny that it's unique and set apart from other gums; it doesn't taste like mint or bubble gum or any singular type of fruit. It tastes like, well, Juicy Fruit.

The founder of the Wrigley Company, William Wrigley Jr., never intended for his company to produce chewing gum. In fact, his original business, which began in 1893, involved selling products like soap and baking powder. In 1899, the company began including sticks of gum inside packages of baking powder as a sort of gift-with-purchase campaign (think of prizes in boxes of Cracker Jack). Unexpectedly, the gum became more popular than the product. Wrigley saw such a potential goldmine in his chewing gum business that he ditched the soap entirely and switched to gum. Both Wrigley's Spearmint and Juicy Fruit were his first products. Surprisingly, Juicy Fruit didn't always have a mysterious fruity flavor; it originally tasted like mint. 

It was Wrigley chemist Walter E. Diemer who developed the new recipe largely based on flavor experimentation. Even though Juicy Fruit is famous for losing its flavor quickly (although not faster than Fruit Stripe, which was unfortunately discontinued), generations over a century have loved keeping a pack in their pockets and purses. Other Wrigley brands, like the aforementioned Spearmint, and Altoids have been around for over 100 years as well. Big Red, Doublemint, Extra, Orbit, and Winterfresh are also part of the Wrigley family, but if you're looking for a gum whose "taste is gonna move ya" — as its catchy 1985 commercial promised — it's got to be Juicy Fruit, of course.