Why was bubble gum pink in colour, originally?

While growing up, you most likely competed with your friends to blow the biggest bubbles out of that fruity bubble gum you got from your nearby grocery store. Of course, there are techniques to that as well. But what exactly is the difference between chewing gum and bubble gum? Are all chewing gums not bubble gums? Well, bubble gum is a type of chewing gum, designed to be inflated out of the mouth as a bubble. Want to know about how it was born and its history? Here it goes.  

Who created it? 
The idea of the first bubble gum came from Frank H. Fleer, the founder of Fleer Corporation, Philadelphia in 1906. He made bubble gum and called his invention Blibber-Blubber. Fleer wanted to stand out from fellow gum competitors and thought the physical involvement of chewing and blowing bubbles from gum would excite consumers. But sadly, the first attempt wasn’t successful. The product was far too sticky and lacked that quintessential snap and pop that makes for an enjoyable bubble gum.  

Actually, it wasn't until 1928 that a real bubble gum was created. Walter Diemer, an accountant at Fleer, liked to spend his spare time inventing new recipes. He was experimenting in the lab with Blibber Blubber when, a magical gum was created by accident. This was the first satisfyingly chewy bubble gum that could stretch to make iconic bubbles and was smooth enough not to stick to the teeth. He named it Dubble Bubble.  

Fleer sent a batch of this bubble gum to a local sweetshop in 1928 and guess what! The whole batch sold out in a single day! An excited Diemer took on himself the task of teaching salesmen the new gum’s unique selling point: How to blow the bubbles!  

How did bubble gum get its colour?  
Well, you can say it was destined to be pink. The pink colour didn’t come by choice but just the opposite. The original recipe that Diemer had created was dingy grey. Now, who would want to have a gum with such an unappetising look? The only food dye the factory had at that time was red. So he diluted it and turned the gum into pink colour. Since then, pink has become the prototypical colour of bubble gum everywhere. 

Flavours of bubble gum 
Originally, gum was made from chicle, a latex sap from the Sapodilla tree. But modern gum is made with a gum base that has synthetic rubber, sweeteners and softeners. The sweet and sticky chewy gum comes in a variety of artificial fruity flavours: Strawberry, banana and cherry and sometimes even orange and lemon. In fact over the years, the faintly fruity concoction has been remade into ice cream, lip balms and jelly beans.  

Bonus fact: In 2004, Chad Fell, a native from Winston, Alabama, US chewed three Double Bubbles and blew a bubble that was 50.8 cm big in diameter. This incredible feat made him earn the World Guinness Record title for blowing the largest bubble from a bubble gum. Quite surprisingly, no one has broken his record yet.