# Gum balls

**Canonical URL:** https://sweeties.net/wiki/gum-balls/
**Source:** sweeties.net, online pick and mix sweet shop

## Summary

Gum balls are round bubblegum sweets in a hard sugar shell, sold from machines since 1907. What goes into one, and the soya and colour points.

## Description

Gum balls are round pieces of bubblegum coated in a hard, coloured sugar shell. They are sold from gumball machines, which drop one ball for each coin.
From stick gum to gumballs
Gum was sold from machines long before gumballs. In 1888 the Adams New York Gum Company sold a tutti frutti flavoured gum from vending machines, one of the first gum flavours sold that way. Machines selling stick or block shaped gum were around from 1888, but the first machines selling actual gumballs were not seen until 1907, probably first from the Thomas Adams Gum Company.
In 1934 the Ford Gum and Machine Company was founded in Akron, New York, making gum for gumball machines. Its machines had a distinctive shiny chrome finish, and the takings went to local service organisations such as the Lions Club and Kiwanis International.
What is in them
Bubblegum Balls, as listed by Sweets and Candy. Sugar, gum base (with the antioxidant E321 and soya lecithin as an emulsifier), glucose syrup, flavourings, glycerol, the colours E160a, E120 and E133, and E901, beeswax, as a glaze. The retailer describes them as colourful balls with a crunchy candy shell and a chewy centre.
The gum base is the part that never dissolves, and it is what makes a bubble possible: see how is bubblegum made? and what is chewing gum made of?
Diet and allergy points
Soya. The gum base here contains soya lecithin: see soya in sweetsCarmine and beeswax. The recipe uses carmine, E120, a red made from insects, and a beeswax glaze, so it is not vegan: see what is carmine?Other allergens. Sweets and Candy says its sweets are packed where wheat, gluten, soya, milk, egg, peanuts and nuts are handled: see pick and mix and allergies
Younger children
Gum balls have a hard shell, and hard sweets can be a choking risk for younger children. Gum is also not meant to be swallowed: see hard sweets and younger children and what happens if you swallow chewing gum?
In our pick and mix
We do not sell gum balls. Each sweet we do sell has a card that opens up to show its full ingredients and allergens.

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