| abstract |
A chewing gum comprises a water-immiscible flavouring, e.g. oil of wintergreen, peppermint, or spices, liquorice, or fruit juices, enclosed in finely-divided particles of gelatine or plastic gum base, e.g. chiele, rubber, jelutong or natural or synthetic resins or waxes and plasticizers, e.g. glycerine and sweeteners, e.g. sucrose or dextrose or cyclamates or saccharin &c. The gelatin may be hardened by various agents. As an example, 20 parts of weight of gum arabic are dissolved in 160 parts water and 80 parts of oil of wintergreen added, and emulsified and mixed with 20 parts gelatine dissolved in 160 parts of water. After drop by drop addition with agitation coacervation begins and is continued until the particle size of the oil droplets is as large as desired all at 120 DEG F. This mixture is poured into water at 32 DEG F. to bring the total weight to 4,000 parts which is then agitated and allowed to stand for 1 hour at less than 77 DEG F. to form a solution containing the enclosed flavouring. This may be hardened by adjusting the pH of the coacervate to 9-11 with NaOH and allowing it to stand for 30 minutes; 19.8 parts of a 37% aqueous solution of formaldehyde previously adjusted to pH 9-11 is added to the coacervate and the mixture is agitated for 10 minutes at 37 DEG F. or less. The result is filtered dried and comminuted and added to chiele or other chewable agent. |