The Aztecs chewed tzictli, or chicle, from the sapodilla tree.

Chicle is the milky latex of the sapodilla, an evergreen called the chewing gum tree. It is native to the Gran Petén, the tropical rain forest of northern Guatemala, Belize, and the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. There, in some areas, over seventy-five sapodilla trees can be found in a single acre [175 trees per hectare]. During the rainy season, gatherers of chicle, known as chicleros, make zigzag cuts in the trunk of the wild sapodilla, allowing the latex to run slowly into a receptacle at the base. It is then collected, boiled to the desired consistency, and molded into blocks to be sold. While chicle is still used to some extent in the chewing gum industry—particularly in gum advertised as natural—it was largely replaced by synthetic products in the 1940’s in the United States.