What do you look for when you pick up a pack of gum? Do you want it to freshen your breath? Maybe you’re trying to quit smoking cigarettes and you need something to chew on to help deter you from continuing the bad habit? Or do you want something with long-lasting flavor for a long, dull day at the office?
I discovered out that gum can have more than one duty when I found a package from the Action Candy Company in the mail. The company is releasing a new line of five sugar-free gums in January 2008, and three of those gums have a dual purpose – not only do they please your taste buds and freshen your breath, but they also help you out in other ways. The other two are intensely flavorful and breath-freshening.
Bonus! Energy Gum
If you’ve ever tasted a Red Bull, you’ll recognize its signature energy-beverage flavor when you pop a piece of this gum into your mouth. This energizing gum contains guarana and taurine, two substances that are meant to get your pulse racing. At first the flavor mellows into a nice citrus tang, but very quickly – and I’m talking about a matter of a minute or two here – you’re left with an almost flavorless lump of gum with the faint bitter aftertaste. I first tried this gum during one of those periods where I decide to swear off all caffeine, and after about ten minutes, I actually got a little caffeine buzz. Now that I drink soda and coffee on a daily basis again, I’m missing out on the caffeine high the gum promises.
Bonus! Green Tea
The packaging boasts that this gum is equipped with “All the Antioxidizing Benefits of Green Tea,” and I’m thinking that chewing gum seems like quite a pleasant way to antioxidize.
I like the packaging for this gum. Its cardboard sleeve is decorated with what looks like fresh mint leaves – it’s green and calming (at least, as calming as any gum package can be). The gum is a pale blue-green, and the flavor at first is overwhelmingly reminiscent of fresh mint. In fact, it tastes just like the mint my dad grows in his garden – hardly artificial at all. After I get used to the mint, I can taste a subtle but noticeable undercurrent of green tea. Green tea lovers will dig this gum, and people who dislike it or haven’t tried it might wonder why the chewed-up gum has such an unsettling pea soup green color.
Bonus! Cranberry
Action Candy Company says this gum is made with real cranberries, and it too boasts helpful antioxidants. This is my favorite gum of the bunch. Its initial flavor is a heady burst of sweet cranberry, with none of the bitterness normally associated with cranberry-flavored foods. Rather than suddenly losing its flavor, this gum gradually becomes less flavorful over longer periods of time – one day, I chewed a couple of pieces for several hours without noticing a complete lack of cranberry flavor. This kind of gum probably won’t help you obliterate bad breath, but it’s sweet, fruity and grownup at the same time (you know, the whole antioxidant thing).
Bonus! Chill Glacier Ice and Peppermint Gums
Glacier Ice and Peppermint are two flavors that tend to span many gum brands – on the candy aisle at a gas station, you might see ten different brands of Glacier Ice flavored gum and twice as many Peppermint. That’s not to say the Action Candy Company’s versions are inferior. It’s just that they aren’t anything new to the gum world. The Glacier Ice gives your mouth a sharp, cool rush of sweet wintergreen, and I imagine it’d be great to have around next time I get onions on my cheeseburger at lunch. 
The peppermint is the same – sharp and cool, and just intense enough to make me feel confident that my breath isn’t going to make any of my coworkers keel over.
Look for these in January 2008!
I am constantly trying new gum flavors—thanks for the heads-up on these!
November 12th, 2007 at 1:14 pmI got a pack of the cranberry and the green tea flavored ones at Wal-mart the other day, the green tea one tasted awful. The cranberry is alright but the flavor does not last very long. As indicated in the review that it just loses it’s flavor over time, aren’t all gum like that? I highly doubt there’s a whole lot of antioxidant in the gum as well, probably has the amount of two whole real cranberries.
They’re also very overpriced in my opinion, probably because of the shiny reflecting foil stuff that they used in the packaging.
March 30th, 2008 at 4:49 pm