Sap from the Sapodilla tree is once again in demand and boiled into chicle to make the sticky gum base. Leading the pack is best-seller Glee Gum with fair-trade chicle, sugar and non-GMO ingredients.

The Mexican government had only recently regained control of Quintana Roo, which had the largest stands of sapodilla trees, after nearly a half century of Maya resistance.

I don’t know when the sapodilla tree at the café in Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden was planted. But since the 1970s, I’ve enjoyed numerous lunches under its dense, spreading canopy.

The sticky problem involves the long-lasting, synthetic chewing gum base used since the 1940s to replace the latex-like chicle resin that ancient Mayans had long collected from the Sapodilla tree.

For centuries the Mayans and Aztecs chewed chicle, a resin from the Mexican sapodilla tree that arrived in New York in the 19th century. It was the Americans who found a way to sell the sticky stuff.

I don’t know when the sapodilla tree at the café in Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden was planted. But since the 1970s, I’ve enjoyed numerous lunches under its dense, spreading canopy. Even ...

He fought the Spanish and led the Mexican army in the country’s fight for independence. ... chewy sap of the sapodilla tree, which, like many in Mexico, Santa Anna was fond of chewing.

The milky latex bled from the Mexican rain forest tree as Alfredo Rodriguez Arzate swung his machete, climbing the trunk with a rope around his waist and spurs on his boots. Built like a featherweight ...