Permen Valentine?

The tradition of proferring offerings of love on St. Valentine's Day is well documented. The role of exchanging confections on this day is not. Conversation Hearts, American descendants of British Motto Rocks, have been conveying confectionery messages of affection from the mid-19th century forward. Some folks believe chocolate is the confection of choice because of its aphrodesiac properties. Others reason the Valentine candy phenomenon a just a clever scheme developed by confectioners to promote products in the seasonal lull between Christmas and Easter. No matter what the reason, the end result is lovely and delicious!

The earliest reference we find in American print to fancy packaged Valentine's Day confections is from the 1890s:

"Among the sweetest valentines seen were those designed by the confectioners. Some shown in beautiful glass-covered boxes were heart shape, the foudation being a layer of pale pink cream confectionery, half an inch thick, edged all around with candied rose leaves in clusters to represent tiny roses. inclused in this flowery frame was a smaller heart formed of a solid mass of the rose leaves, and surrounding it were the words, in raised letters, covered with gold leaf, "For my valentine." The box, into which the lovely confection exactly fitted, was of pink satin, the rim around the glass top being covered with a narrow row of finely-plaited pink silk net. In this dainty casket the valentine can be preserved for generations, if so desired, or, if consumed, the case will serve as a charming receptable for jewels. Others, similary designed, were of candied violets, in violet satin boxes. An exquisitely delicate one, that shows the confectioner's art in its hightes development, resembled a delicate bisque piece in coloring and finish. In the centre of a square of lemon-colored cream, bordered with ale green primroses, were two figures, one of a bewitching little girl in a Greenaway gown and a huge hat loaded with white ostrich tips, and the other a boy in a picturesuqe Continental suit, standing before her, cocked hat in hand, in the act of making an elaborate bow. The faces and dresses are wonderfully well done, and every particle of the whole is composed of the very choicest candy. On the right, in gold letters, are the words, "Will you be my valentine?" Their values range from $5 upward, including box, those with the figures being, of course, higher priced than th others and they make a far more sensible gift than gold-plated bonbons at $40 a pound, which are a caprice just now with the ultra fashionables." ---"In Honor of St. Valentine," New York Times, February 4, 1894 (p. 18)

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Sputar Permen

"Candy. A term derived from the Arabic qandi, meaning a sugar confection. In the USA it is a general term for sweets of all kinds; in Britain it is used in a more restricted range of meanings, notably to indicate sweetmeats coated or glazed with sugar."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford Univeristy Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 129)
[NOTE: This source has much more information than can be paraphrased here. Ask your librarian to help you find a copy. It also contains separate entries for specific types of candies.]

"All of the peoples of antiquity made sweetmeats of honey before they had sugar: the Chinese, the Indians, the people of the Middle East, the Egyptians and then the Greeks and Romas used it coat fruits, flowers, and the seeds or stems of plants, to preserve them for use as an ingredient in the kind of confectionery still made in those countries today. Confectioner and preserves featured in the most sumptious of Athenian banquets, and were an ornament to Roman feasts at the time of the Satyricon, but it seems that after that the barbarian invations Europe forgot them for a while, except at certain wealthy courts were Eastern products were eaten...At the height of the Middle Ages sweetmeats reappeared, on the tables of the wealthy at first...In fact the confectionery of the time began as a marriage of spices and sugar, and was intended to have a therapeutic or at least preventative function, as an aid to digestive troupbes due to the excessive intake of food which was neither very fresh nor very well balanced...guests were in the habit of carrying these sweetmeats to their rooms to be taken at night. They were contained in little comfit-boxes or drageoirs...."
---History of Food, Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat [Barnes & Noble Books:New York] 1992 (p. 565-6)
[NOTE: This book has an excellent chapter on the history of confectionery and preserves. Ask your librarian to help you find a copy.]

"Candy...The ancient Egyptians preserved nuts and fruits with honey, and by the Middle Ages physicians had learned how to mask the bad taste of their medicines with sweetness, a practice still widespread. Boiled "sugar plums were known in the seventeenth-century England and soon were to appear in the American colonies where maple-syrup candy was popular in the North and benne-seed [sesame seed] confections were just as tempting in the South. In New Amersterdam one could enjoy "marchpane," or "marzipan," which is very old decorative candy made from almonds ground into a sweet paste. While the British called such confections, "sweetmeats," Americans came to call "candy," from the Arabic gandi, "made of sugar," although one finds "candy" in English as early as the fifteenth century...Caramels were known in the early eighteenth century and lollipops by the 1780s..."Hard candies" made from lemon or peppermint flavors were polular in the eary nineteenth century...A significan moment in candy history occured at the 1851 Great Exhibition in London, where "French-style" candies with rich cream centers were first displayed...But it was the discovery of milk chocolate in Switzerland in 1875 that made the American candy bar such a phenomenon of the late nineteenth century."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 54-5)
[NOTE: This source has much more information than can be paraphrased. Ask your librarian to help you find a copy. It also contains separate entries for specific types of candies.]

Why are confections sometimes called "sweetmeats" in England? Laura Mason, British confectionery history expert, explains:

"The anamolies in our own language are due to the origin of sweets or sweeties...as diminutives of sweetmeat. This word, still not entirely obsolete, was in common use for over 400 years to the end of the nineteenth century. The suffix-meat has an archaic meaning of food in the widest sense (surviving in the phrase 'meat and drink'), so sweetmeat simply means a sweet food...To the inhabitants of Tudor and Stuart England, sweetmeats were sugary foods in general, including pieces of flavoured candy and sugar-covered nuts and spices, products of medieval theories on the medicinal value of sugar, as well as dishes which used sugar as one ingredient amongst many, for structure, sweetness and an air of the exotic...Medieval feasts had provided several roles for sweetmeats."
---Sugarplums and Sherbet: The Prehistory of Sweets, Laura Mason [Prospect Books:Devon] 2004 (p. 22)
[NOTE: We highly recommend this book if you need details on the history of all sorts of English candies.]

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Bungkus Permen Sepanjang Masa

Food historians confirm confectionery packaging through time is a complicated issue. Not only is packaging period-dependent (technologically possible options), but venue (penny-candy street vendors vs shops catering to wealthy clients), occasion (Valentines gift, everyday candy bar) and product (chocolate bars are packaged quite differently from gumdrops) factor in as well Laura Mason, confectionery history expert, offers these notes:

"Containers are essential; they help maintain low humidity, hold sweets together, and protect them during transport. Before the nineteenth century, options were limited. Fruit in syrup was mostly stored in earthenware gallipots, and small sugar confections and pastes in oblong or round boxes made of thin sheets of matchwood...'Jar glasses' (small, cylindrical glass containers) were in use by the seventeeenth century but they are rarely mentioned. They were expensive, limited to wealthy households or enterprises. Glass jars probably did not become common until the late eighteenth century when, though used as storage containers, their emphasis had switched to a means of display. They include straight jars presumably for conserves or jams, small, stemmed glasses for jellies and larger ones with lids for sweets and comfits. Tall straight-sided and later ones with lids are also shown. Glass was used more and more to show off the bright colours and clarity of newly fashionable, transparent acid and fruit drops to brilliant advantage in the 1830s and '40s...Another imporant innovation, from the 1850s onwards, was the airtight tin--especially for toffee. Functional yet decorative, these became coveted in their own right. Commemorative versions were produced for national events, or the patterns designed so that a set of tins with themed pictures was avaialble. Transparent wrapping is a product of our own age. Cellophane was introduced in the 1920s and plastics followed later."
---Sugarplums and Sherbet: The Prehistory of Sweets, Laura Mason [Prospect Books:Devon] 2004 (p. 202-3)

"Wrappers, although treated as so much waste paper, account for much of the colour perceived in confectionery by the modern observer. This is a phenonemnon of the last hundred years. Before, a scrap of paper wrapped round a sugar stick or twisted into a cone (the origin of the triangular paper bag) was the most one could expect when buying sweets in the street. These wrappers were themselves waste paper. Henry Mayhew recorded how one street-seller of sweet stuff bought paper from stationers or secondhand book shops, including the Acts of Parliament, 'a pile of these a foot or more deep, lay on the shelf. They are used to wrap rock &c. sold.' Smarter confectioners used paper wrappers with cut or fringed ends twisted around sweets. A French custom of making these up as packets of bonbons for presents at New Year is metioned by Jarrin. The London confectionery Tom Smith is said to have commercialized the idea in Britain. His bonbons consisted of several sweets wrapped together in tissue paper, with mottoes enclosed. They were first introduced as a Christmas novelty in the late 1840s. Shortly afterwards, Smith added a 'bang', evolving the modern Christmas Cracker. The theory is that the idea was provided by a spark leaping out of the fire one night. However, exploding 'cracker bonbons' were apparently known some years earlier."
---ibid (p. 205)

"Initially, chocolate was packed as unwrapped bars in wooden boxes with paper labels, displayed on the shop counter. Individual paper wrappers developed soon afterwards. Gold printing and metal foils repeated this luxury message which gold leaf had given to sweets in earlier centuries. Designs used the latest images, and graphics publicized the desirability of chocolate. Even more status was attached to special boxes, decroated with pcitures, lined with tissue and paper lace. As the package, not the contents, occupied more and more of the foreground, so advertising has shifted almost entirely from the taste of confectioenry towards style by association."
---ibid (p. 207-8)

"Most companies concentrated on indivudally wrapped toffees as opposed to bulk tray toffee sold by weight. They were popular, kept well, and sold at a lower price than chocolate while maintaining a luxurious image. This was done partly by advertising and packaging. Robert Opie examined the role of packaging, especially tins, in marketing confectionery, and commented on toffee: 'splendid and glamorous tins abounded with bright colours and decorative patterns. The use of a tin also enhanced the status of the toffees, making them a more acceptable gift in comparison with the prestigious box of chocolates'."
---ibid (p. 191)

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Sejarah Permen Kapas

Most would assume that cotton candy came into existence in the late nineteenth century, but that's not correct. Cotton candy was actually a popular trend in Italy that began in the 1400's. The old fashioned way of making cotton candy - or spun sugar as it was called - was to melt sugar in a pan and then use a fork to make strings of sugar over an upside down bowl. The sugar would then dry in strings and be served as a dessert. This process of making spun sugar wasn't practical in the least - especially not for mass production; it was simply too time consuming.


Even centuries later, in the eighteenth century, confectioners were making spun sugar desserts and decorations. A popular favorite among Europeans were Easter eggs made from spun sugar, as well as webs of gold and silver. Generally these webs were made by the same method of using a utensil of some sort to make threads covering sweetmeats (candies without chocolate). Delicate strands covered them, creating a "web". At other times, it was made into threads over an oiled rolling pin. All in all, the technique varied slightly and required different levels of cooking skill, but the end result was nearly always the same. However, due to the amount of skill needed to create these desserts, only the wealthy usually had it. Very rarely did the average person get lucky enough to try some.

Candy makers William Morrison and John C. Wharton corrected these flaws though. In 1897 they created a machine that would melt the sugar and any flavoring and/or coloring and then use centrifugal force to push the melted mixture through a screen to create the strands of sugar. After the strands collect in a pan or bowl, they're twirled onto a paper or cardboard cone and ready to be served.

Cotton candy made one of its first world debuts in 1900 at the Paris Exposition and then again in 1904 at the St. Louis World Fair. (The Ferris wheel also was one of the highlights of this particular fair, but that's another story!) At the St. Louis World Fair, Morrison and Wharton sold boxes of "Fairy Floss" for 25 cents a box. Now, back in 1904, this was quite a bit. In fact, a box of Fairy Floss cost half the admission price to the World Fair. Despite the somewhat high price for the sugary concoction, the duo sold an astonishing 68,655 boxes ($17, 163.75 for those too lazy to do the math). About a year later, one candy store had already purchased a machine and was selling cotton candy for 5-10 cents.


Though it was at time called spun sugar and Fairy Floss, a new name for it emerged around 1920 in America. The name was none other than cotton candy. Although this is the most common name for it, cotton candy still has a few alternative names throughout the world. For example, it is called candy floss in the United Kingdom and is even still called fairy floss in other parts of the world.

By the late 1940's, one company had created a machine that would revolutionize the cotton candy industry. Then, in the 1970's, another company changed it forever by creating an automatic cotton candy machine. Not only did it make cotton candy on a mass scale, but it also packaged it automatically. Thanks to these two major changes, cotton candy can be bought in numerous stores as well as at traditional places such as carnivals and circuses.

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Jangan Terperdaya Manfaat Cokelat

Telah banyak penelitian yang membuktikan bahwa cokelat memiliki khasiat untuk kesehatan. Zat bio-aktifnya berupa anti oksidan memang diyakini bermanfaat dari sisi medis, dan secara psikologis mengonsumsi cokelat pun dapat menimbulkan rasa nyaman

Namun begitu jangan sampai terpedaya dengan khasiat dari makanan manis nan lezat ini. Ada baiknya mempertimbangkan lagi atau pun lebih bijaksana memilih produk cokelat, karena bukan mustahil Anda justru akan mendapat kerugiannya ketimbang manfaat yang diharapkan dari makanan ini.

Pentingnya untuk mempertimbangkan lagi cokelat sebagai kudapan muncul setelah sebuah jurnal kesehatan ternama dalam edisi terbarunya menyatakan bahwa khasiat cokelat kini sudah banyak "disalahgunakan".

Adalah jurnal Lancet yang melaporkan bahwa banyak produsen cokelat kini justru menghilangkan kandungan flavanols karena rasanya yang pahit. Walhasil, banyak produk cokelat yang beredar di pasaran saat ini hanya didominasi lemak dan gula saja. Padahal kedua zat ini justru merupakan musuh bagi jantung dan pembuluh darah.

Banyak riset yang menyatakan bahwa mengonsumsi cokelat dapat mengurangi risiko penyakit jantung, menurunkan tekanan darah dan menghilangkan capek. Tetapi menurut artikel yang ditulis dalam jurnal Lancet, cokelat justru bisa memperdaya.

"Ketika perusahaan cokelat membuat gula-gula, bahan cokelat alami padat yang membuat warna menjadi lebih hitam serta flavanols yang rasanya pahit, justru dihilangkan. Oleh karena itulah, cokelat yang terlihat hitam pun bisa jadi tidak mengandung flavanol.

"Konsumen juga selalu dibuat buta dengan kandungan flavanol dalam cokelat sebab produsen jarang memberi keterangan mengenai informasi ini dalam produknya," tulis Lancet.

Jurnal tersebut juga menekankan bahwa meskipun flavanols terkandung dalam sebuah produk cokelat, para pecinta cokelat harus tetap mewaspadai zat atau kandungan lainnya.

"Setan dalam cokelat hitam adalah lemak, gula dan juga kalori yang terkandung didalamnya. Untuk mendapatkan khasiatnya buat kesehatan, untuk yang suka makan cokelat hitam dalam jumlah sedang harus menyeimbangkannya dengan mengurangi asupan makanan lainnya. Ini pekerjaan yang tak mudah bahkan untuk yang rajin menjaga asupan kalori sekalipun," ungkap Lancet.

Sumber: Kompas,Selasa, 12 Februari 2008.

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Riwayat Jahe

The earliest example of ginger use leads us to India, where itwas utilized by the Yogi as a seasoning to promote mental clarity.Also, the Yogi contrasted it to garlic, where the ginger had a sweet essence which was inoffensive to the gods. Soon, ginger usagespread to China, where it was used in treating nausea, vomiting,and motion sickness. Also, it was adopted in reducing the toxicityof other herbs, absorbing and neutralizing the toxins in the stomach.Further, Asian countries used the ginger as a diaphoretic, purgingthe body of toxins via its invigoration of the sweat glands. Made intoa tea, ginger was used as a carminative, an agent which expelsgas from intestines.
In the sixth century, usage of ginger spread to Japan, where today it remains the favored base for soups and sauces, and prescribed topically for aches and pains. In the Western World, ginger received its debut from the Muslims, who after occupying Spain, made it popular. The Spaniards in turn introduced it to the West Indies and Jamaica.

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Permen Karet Berusia 5000 Tahun

Gumpalan permen karet berusia 5.000 tahun mengandung bekas-bekas gigitan

Permen karet telah dikunyah manusia sejak 5000 tahun lalu. Bangsa Finlandia mungkin menjadi pelopornya.

Mahasiswi arkeologi dari Universitas Derby, Inggris menemukan bekas kunyahan pada gumpalan permen karet yang mungkin tertua di dunia saat ini. Gumpalan karet dari zaman Neolitikum itu ditemukan Sarah Pickin (23), nama mahasiswi tersebut, dalam sebuah penggalian di desa Zaman Batu di Pusat Zaman Batu Kierikki.

"Temuan ini sangat penting artinya karena bekas gigitan terlihat jelas di permukaannya," ujar Trevor Brown, pembimbing Pickin dan empat mahasiswa arkeologi lainnya. Saat itu, orang mungkin sudah menggunakannya sebagai antiseptik untuk mencegah gigi berlubang karena karet tersebut mengandung fenol.

Kebiasaan mengunyah permen karet sangat disukai di Finlandia sejak salah seorang ilmuwan menemukan kandungan xylitol pada permen karet. Pemanis alami yang ditambahkan pada permen karet tersebut berasal dari jaringan pohon birch, sejenis oak, yang berguna mencegah kerusakan gigi.

Menurut informasi Asosiasi Dokter Gigi Inggris, makan permen karet bebas gula setelah makan akan merangsang produksi ludah yang membersihkan rongga mulut. Saat ini, permen karet yang mengandung xylitol menjadi agen kesehatan gigi dengan dibagikan gratis ke sekolah-sekolah. Penjualan permen karet di seluruh dunia juga berlipat dalam lima tahun terakhir sejak popularitas xylitol menanjak.

Namun, bangsa Finlandia kuno sepertinya juga menggunakan permen karet sebagai penambal perkakas yang retak atau patah. Misalnya, untuk menyambung anak panah atau tembikar yang pecah yang ditemukan bersamanya.

Sumber: Kompas, Selasa, 21 Agustus 2007.

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Chew gum and live longer

Chewing gum forms an ideal base as a dosage form for health-promoting ingredients and for maintaining good dental health.
Most attention is placed on the dental health of children, but what is often forgotten are the many benefits of dental health throughout life. Research suggests that periodontal disease may contribute to the development of heart disease and increase the risk of stroke. Periodontal disease can also pose a serious threat to people with diabetes or respiratory diseases.
Even if one does not enjoy perfect dental health in later years, there's much one can do to improve it. For instance, older adults can lower their risk of developing oral health disease by chewing a sugarless gum sweetened with the cavity fighter xylitol.

Dental benefits
The success of sugar-free mints and chewing gum products is in no small part due to the dental properties of polyols, especially xylitol. Xylitol is now a brand of its own and well regarded among dental health professionals globally.
Xylitol, a very special polyol, exhibits a unique combination of high solubility, sweetness and a very high negative heat of solution. These factors combine to produce a distinct cooling effect as xylitol dissolves, making it ideal for mouth refreshing products, such as mints and chewing gum.
Oral bacteria are unable to utilise xylitol as an energy or carbon source, so there is no acid production following consumption.
The oral and plaque pH remains neutral, demineralisation does not occur and therefore there is no caries formation. Oral bacteria do not adapt to utilise xylitol as an energy or carbon source, even following habitual consumption. Furthermore, xylitol inhibits the growth of streptococci, lactobacilli and candida and reduces the adhesion properties of streptococcus mutans.

Digestive health
Gums are not only used for dental health also for relief of mild digestive disorders - something that becomes more common as we age. Gum chewing can increase saliva quantity by 130%. Saliva is rich in oesophageal protective agents including epidermal growth factor, mucin, proteins and prostaglandin E2. A study found that chewing sugarless gum or walking after a meal can neutralise throat acid and relieve symptoms of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, or GERD.
Chewing gum stimulates the production of saliva, which can help neutralise and wash away the acid in your throat when swallowed. This approach worked better than walking and according to researchers, walking was found to be only mildly beneficial in reducing GERD. Researchers suggest that chewing gum after meals may provide relief for those who suffer from occasional heartburn, and chewing a gum that contains antacid may provide even more relief 1.

Chewing gum market
Chewing gum has become an innovative product, extending easily into the functional sector. This has benefited from the introduction of the tooth-care sugar substitute xylitol, the use of which is now commonplace. There have also been a number of more unusual gum launches, including analgesic gum, gums to improve the skin, cholesterol-lowering and stress-relief gums, antacid gums, and decongestant gums. However, these all remain niche products at this time.
In the UK, recent examples have included Orbit Professional from Wrigley (containing xylitol and blue microgranules which leave the mouth with the feeling that the teeth have just been cleaned), and in Denmark, Stimorol V6 White has an advanced whitening formula and protects the teeth from discolouration.
In the Italian market, Perfetti Van Melle has been successful with Daygum Microtech, a chewing gum that contains microparticles for removing plaque during the day and has captured up to 10% of the overall market. Other notable functional lines from the same company include Happydent White (a sugar-free gum that whitens the teeth), Happydent Defensive (which helps impede the formulation of tartar), Air Action Vigorsol, and Daygum Protex, which contains xylitol and fluoride. In Belgium, Delhaize Le Lion brought out Structuur Calcium, Zuiverend Groene Thee and Vitaliteit Vit ACE in the first quarter of 2003.
These own-label chewing gums were fortified with active ingredients for health. Structuur Calcium was enriched with calcium to ensure healthy bones, while Zuiverend Groene Thee was described as a cleansing gum containing green tea. Vitaliteit Vit ACE has a novel flavour (orange and carrot) and contains antioxidant vitamins A, C and E.
Within the last few years, gums with added calcium and caffeine have been launched in Germany, as well as a product containing hemp extract. In August 2002, French manufacturer Phyto-Gum launched Orange-Gum, a plant-based chewing gum with added vitamin C, while Dirol AeroEffect (a sugar-free chewing gum comprising propolis, aspartame and acesulfame-K) appeared in Russia soon afterward. The trend toward sugar-free and functional chewing gum is also apparent in Latin American countries, especially Mexico and Chile.

Other confectionery
Although not seeing the same high profile growth as the chewing gum sector, innovation in the sugar confectionery market has been high in recent years. Many lines are now offering health benefits, such as breath freshening, and are thereby contributing toward overall growth in the functional confectionery market.
Throughout Europe, sugar confectionery is starting to incorporate more unusual ingredients such as ginseng, guarana and camomile, offering benefits such as aiding relaxation and cardiovascular health. In addition, many lines are now fortified with vitamins and minerals.
Many more health benefits could be offered in the form of confectionery that could help prevent diseases that occur later in life.

Glycaemic effects
At first sight, glycaemic effects would appear medical, but in fact it is a simple idea about moderating blood sugar levels. The Glycaemic Index (GI) of foods has been developed as a concept and has been measured in foods for over 20 years. This approach to food and diet has been proven to be beneficial for normal healthy people as well as those suffering from impaired glucose tolerance, such as type II diabetics.
The GI of foods is simply a ranking of foods based on their immediate effect on blood sugar levels. To make a fair comparison, all foods are compared with a reference food such as pure glucose. This allows the consumer to choose the products that will help control their glycaemic responses to foods and thereby improve their health and reduce their long term disease risk.
Many of Danisco Sweeteners ingredients have been shown to have a low glycaemic response.

Fibre and prebiotics
Japan was one of the first countries to look at adding fibre to foods and beverages and this trend has spread to the rest of the world, where the fibre intake is much lower than the Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) of 30g per day. Ingesting fibre can prevent constipation, hypertension, growth of intestinal pathogens, and has even been linked to the prevention of obesity, cancer, heart disease and diabetes2. Soluble and insoluble dietary fibre offer several physiological benefits, including laxation (faecal bulking, decreased transit time, etc), blood glucose and cholesterol/lipid atten- uation, short chain fatty acid production, prebiotic effects and increased mineral
absorption.
Litesse (polydextrose) is a soluble fibre with the lowest calorific value at 1kcal/g making it very advantageous for use in low calorie confectionery.

Summary
The confectionery sector lends itself more readily to developing products with fibre fortification and low GI than chewing gum. This is due to the greater weight of these products compared to chewing gum. Products such as hard candy may be the perfect way to top up on your daily fibre requirements. As we age we tend to eat less - making fibre even more important to our health.
Finally, it is the consumer who will make their purchase choices based on their particular needs and preferences, but the functional confectionery sector remains a largely untapped market.

References
1. MSN News, November 17, 2003.
2. Trowell H.J. et al, Dietary fibres, dietary fibre reduced foods and disease.
Academic Press (1985).
Chewing gum and confectionery as an aid to health and disease prevention as we age may at first seem hard to believe. Geoff O'Sullivan, applications manager of Danisco Sweeteners Ltd, shows how functional confectionery has grown significantly over the last few years and more growth is expected, especially in gum.

http://www.ifi-online.com/Tmpl_Article.asp?ContentID=322&ContentType=3

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Permen Karet, Dari Pemburu Swedia Hingga Tentara AS

Sejak kapan manusia mengunyah permen karet? Ini sulit dijawab. Sejarah permen karet masih belum jelas benar. Di tahun 1993, para arkeolog menemukan tiga gumpalan yang diberi pemanis madu berusia 9.000 tahun yang dikunyah pemburu-pengumpul di Swedia.

Mengunyah permen karet adalah kebiasaan populer di masyarakat Yunani Kuno. Mereka mengunyah mastic gum, sebuah damar yang diambil dari pohon mastic yang berasal dari Turki. Di Amerika Utara, penduduk asli Amerika biasa mengunyah substansi yang dibuat dari damar pohon spruce. Kebiasaan ini berlanjut hingga awal abad ke-19. Di akhir abad ke-19, parafin diperkenalkan sebagai pengganti damar spruce.

Permen karet zaman dulu sukar dikunyah dan rasanya, jika pun ada, mudah hilang. Permen karet yang dianggap modern mulai dibuat di tahun 1860-an ketika seorang jenderal Meksiko yang diasingkan, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, memperkenalkan chicle (berasal dari getah pohon sapodila atau sapota) pada Dr. Thomas Adams. Ketika itu, Dr. Adams sedang mencari bahan yang elastis untuk membuat ban yang lebih ekonomis. Dia tak pernah bisa membuat ban ini.

Dr. Adam memiliki toko gula-gula dan mempunyai kebiasaan mengunyah pensil yang membantunya berkonsentrasi. Ini memberi ilham baginya untuk mencoba menyempurnakan formula permen karet yang telah ada saat itu dengan menggunakan bahan chicle. Meskipun rasa permen karet barunya ini tidak enak, Dr. Adams mematenkan produknya dan menjualnya di tokonya. William Wrigley, Jr, seorang pemilik pabrik tepung, kemudian membeli hak permen karet Dr. Adams dan berhasil memberi rasa mint pada permen karet tersebut.

Di tahun 1892, Wrigley memberikan layanan hadiah dua bungkus permen karet untuk setiap kaleng baking powder (pengembang kue) yang dibeli. Ini sukses. Orang membeli baking powder hanya agar bisa memperoleh permen karet. Wrigley melihat potensi bisnis permen karet. Ia pun mendirikan perusahaan permen karet dan memasarkannya dengan namanya sendiri. Saat itu telah ada perusahaan-perusahaan permen karet lainnya dengan berbagai jenis produknya. Kini, perusahaan Wrigley menjadi produsen permen karet terbesar di dunia.

Karena dapat membantu menjaga tetap siaga dan meredakan ketegangan, permen karet dijadikan bagian dari ransum tentara Amerika Serikat (AS) sejak Perang Dunia I hingga saat ini. Di tahun 2005, Angkatan Bersenjata AS mensponsori pengembangan permen karet yang mengandung zat antibakteri yang bisa digunakan sebagai pengganti cara menjaga kesehatan mulut konvensional di medan perang.

Baru-baru ini Angkatan Bersenjata AS juga menyediakan permen karet yang mengandung kafein untuk membantu tentara tetap siaga untuk waktu yang lama tanpa mengalami rasa penat atau mengantuk. Setiap batang permen karet mengandung sekira 100 mg kafein, jumlah yang sama dengan yang terdapat pada satu cangkir kopi.

Permen karet juga menjadi bagian ransum tentara Kanada. Mei 2007, Angkatan Bersenjata Selandia Baru menjadikan permen karet Recaldent sebagai bagian dari ransum tentaranya untuk membantu perawatan kesehatan mulut para tentara di lapangan.

A.Taufik
Alumnus Teknologi Pangan Universitas Padjadjaran.

Dari Pemburu Swedia Hingga Tentara AS

Sumber: Pikiran Rakyat, Sabtu, 05 Januari 2007.

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