Yum yum bubble gum!

For quite some time, and maybe even a year or two, my family has refrained from purchasing mainstream gum.

The reason?

Because gum contains BHT, a substance that is used to maintain freshness in almost all gums sold in the States, and one that is a pork byproduct. *I was able to confirm this a couple years ago, but for some reason, there is nothing that says BHT is a pork byproduct anywhere. But whether it's BHT or some other thing; if it's pork, we won't eat it.*

So how did me and my family handle life without Wrigley's, Extra, Trident or Orbitz? Simple. We bought gum at the International Market where we buy everything else we need to make authentic Middle Eastern food. The gum is much like Chiclets, and it got us by, except it only comes in two flavors: mint and peppermint.

I've been searching for fruit flavored (or any other flavored) gum to no avail. I was doomed to chew the same, minty gum for the rest of my life.

That was what I thought until I visited a local Asian mart right here in Denver, where different kinds of gums are sold, and voila! I found fruit flavored gum-- bubble gum, no less-- that did not contain BHT! Woohoo!

Marukawa brand gum comes in a seven-pack, containing orange, melon, strawberry, grape, green apple and bubble gum flavors. It is delicious gum imported from Japan (where BHT is banned altogether), made with actual sugar, and each flavor really tastes like the real thing. Although it is artificially flavored, it doesn't taste anything like the chemically stuff I'm used to with gum here.

Silly of me to write about gum, but it has been such a long time since I've been able to enjoy a delicious, fruit flavored piece of gum! I'm chewing and popping as I write, and I feel like I'm chewing and popping an actual orange. I'm stocking up on Murakawa gum next time I am near the Asian Mart!