Anglo Bubbly

Anglo Bubbly is a bubble gum sold in individually wrapped pieces. The UK retailer Sweets and Candy sells it in a 1 kg bulk bag of about 166 pieces, and lists it as suitable for vegetarians.

Who makes it

Wikipedia's article on Valeo Foods UK, the Leeds sweet maker formerly known as Tangerine Confectionery, lists Anglo Bubbly among its brands, alongside Barratt, Taveners and Squirrel. Valeo Foods completed its takeover of Tangerine in August 2018.

What is in it

Anglo Bubbly, as listed by Sweets and Candy. Sugar, gum base, glucose syrup, invert sugar syrup, sorbitol syrup as a humectant, flavouring, and beetroot red as the colour.

Each of the less familiar ingredients has a job:

• Gum base is the part you chew. It carries the sweeteners and flavours, it is not digested, and it gives gum its texture: see what is chewing gum made of?
• Invert sugar syrup is sugar split into glucose and fructose. Foods made with it hold on to moisture better and crystallise less easily than foods made with table sugar.
• Sorbitol syrup is listed as a humectant, an ingredient that helps a food hold on to moisture. Sorbitol is used this way in low moisture foods, and it has about half the sweetness of table sugar.
• Beetroot red, E162, is a red food dye obtained from beets. As a food additive, it has no safety concerns.

What the gum base is

The exact make up of a gum base is usually a trade secret, so the listing does not say what is in this one. The most commonly used gum bases today are petroleum derived polymers, which have largely replaced the natural resins, such as chicle, that people once chewed. A bubble gum base contains more elastomers, or larger polymers, than a chewing gum base, and that is what lets it stretch into a bubble: see is chewing gum made of plastic? and how is bubblegum made?

Why bubble gum is pink

In 1928 Walter Diemer, an accountant at the Fleer Chewing Gum Company in Philadelphia, was experimenting with gum recipes and found one that was less sticky and stretched more easily than ordinary chewing gum. The recipe gave a dingy grey gum, so he added red dye, diluted to pink, because it was the only dye he had to hand. That is how bubble gum got its distinctive pink: see Walter Diemer, the accountant who invented bubble gum

In the Anglo Bubbly recipe here, the colour comes from beetroot red.

Diet and allergy points

• Vegetarian. Sweets and Candy lists Anglo Bubbly as suitable for vegetarians.
• Packing. The retailer says its sweets are packed in an environment that handles wheat, gluten, soya, milk, peanuts and nuts, so anyone with one of those allergies should check before buying: see what does may contain mean on sweets?
• Swallowing. If a piece goes down by mistake, see what happens if you swallow chewing gum?

For another way bubble gum is sold, see gum balls

In our pick and mix

We do not sell Anglo Bubbly, but we do sell Fizzy Bubblegum Bottles. Each card opens up to show the full ingredients and allergens for the sweets we actually stock.

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