| Show spruce gum considered Count rys first sweet As youngsters many of us ca can recall e almost dally daily purchases nt at the corner candy or drug store of a stick of pink spruce sum gum wrapped in n its tissue paper coat with diagonal stripes of red white and blue says a writer in the detroit news it was the chewing gum of the masses and as our grandmothers used to say A real aid to digestion crude spruce gum was chewed by the indians of north america undoubtedly long before the white man came to its shores in fact one Is inclined to believe that it was the nations first chewing confection it if it may be so termed but spruce gum belonged to the horse and buggy days and it Is about as difficult to find on the market today lis as a candle mold or buffalo meat pemmican the finest spruce gum was obtained from mature white spruce trees in the form of small golden blobs that oozing from young growth and black spruce and balsam fir was of an inferior quality the pioneer method of preparing the gum consisted in melting the raw material as gathered from the tree and while still hot mixing it with a little sugar this was kneaded on a hot slab and finally removed and rolled in po powdered sugar commercial manufacturers later added |
