Chewing gum is one of the oldest candies known to mankind. In fact, archeologists have discovered evidence of gum from prehistoric times. While gum chewing as a practice has endured the test of time, individual flavors of gum have extremely variable timelines. Some gum flavor lasts longer than others, or at least seems to.
An important aspect of gum flavor perception is actually the sweetness factor. Our brain cannot always distinguish between the signal for sweetness and the signal for a flavor. So, long lingering sweetness can prolong the perception of flavor. Gum can be made with either sugars or artificial sweeteners and typically, artificially sweetened gum maintains sweetness longer than sugary gum thus seeming to prolong flavor retention.
The type of flavoring used also determines the strength and length of gum flavor. Flavor chemicals each have a unique volatilization temperature that causes the flavor to dissipate. Usually fruity flavors volatilize at much lower temperatures than mint flavors, which is why these flavors loss potency most quickly. Other factors can also influence flavor duration. Flavors can be encapsulated or crystallized leading to increased chew-life.
Don’t believe me? You probably shouldn’t, as good scientists need to be skeptical. Answer your gum flavor questions yourself via simple experimentation. Select five of your favorite gums and at least three of your favorite friends (for statistical significance). Randomize the gum order and administer the gum in a double-blind fashion by having one person code the gum and another person distribute the coded samples. Chew until the flavor disappearance is observed and record the flavor length of each coded sample. Your results will leave you something to chew on.
You have not yet met Marc. He is our trusty and loyal intern from American University and he is basically here to do my bidding. At least, that is how I have been treating him. His first day, I gave him some tall boots and a shovel and told him to go hose down the oompa loompas and clean out their pens. Eventually he did well enough with all the menial tasks that we let him help write a blog post.
While shopping at drug stores such as Rite Aid, Walgreens or CVS, you’ll often see name brand products competing with store brand “bargain” products. Today while shopping at CVS, I saw Brach’s Candy Corn sitting on the shelf next to the “premium quality” bargain brand CVS Candy Corn.
Usually, the draw of these CVS brand products is the budget price that accompanies them. When I picked up both off of the shelf to learn the differences between the two products, I was surprised by what I saw. I realized that the Brach’s and CVS brand Candy Corn were the same price. Not only were the costs identical, but the CVS Candy Corn was packaged in a 6 oz. bag, while the name brand was packaged in a 9 oz. bag. The roles were reversed – CVS was charging over a nickel more per ounce for their knockoff.
A good intern, Marc brought the candy corn back to the office and we sampled it both brands. They were definitely different, which really surprised me. They both had that great candy corn flavor, but had slightly different consistencies and very different overtones.
I liked them both but I can easily see someone preferring one brand over the other. For those who like the store brand – the one that you might expect to be a more cost effective choice – you have to wonder if it’s really 50% better. Can flavor enjoyment be quantified that way? The price being low all around, the cost difference per volume does not really matter for most people, but it makes me think of value and flavor enjoyment. Something like wine, for example – do you enjoy a $45 bottle of wine 50% more than you enjoy a $30 bottle of wine? I will have to consult Reggie, who is our resident wine lover.
Have you found your favorite candy corn brand yet?
Candy Corn Flower by FCivelloPhotography.
When I was a kid, I could not stand anything licorice flavored except the occasional Good and Plenty (and frankly, I attribute that to the fact that they are pink more than anything else). My dislike of the licorice was especially powerful when it came to jelly beans, which I otherwise adored. I could not understand why someone would ruin a perfectly good bag of jelly beans with licorice. No black jelly beans in my Easter basket please!
To say my taste for licorice has evolved over the years would be a complete understatement. I love licorice. When there is some in the office, people bring it into me right away. They hide packages to give me on the sly.
And yet, I haven’t made the transition to black / licorice jelly beans yet. There’s a package sitting on my desk – a whole package with nothing but black beans (Cybele at the CandyBlog reviewed them last week) I have every intention of eating them, but I haven’t worked the package open just yet. We’re still a few weeks from Easter and I don’t want them to be gone too quickly.
Much like candy corn, black jelly beans seem to be one of those love ‘em or hate ‘em kinds of foods.
An interesting side note here is the fact that most people refer to jelly beans flavors by their colors. A few years ago, NCA conducted a poll to find out what the most popular flavors of jelly beans are and the number one answer was red.
Uh, red? That’s not a flavor.
Not surprisingly, black was the least popular. Poor licorice. At least you have me to love you.
So, what’s your take on the black jelly bean? Do you love them like me? If not, what is your favorite flavor (or color)?
Black Jelly Bean Heart by kimncris
