The Ultimate Chewing Gum Taste Test

When it comes to chewing gum, there's a ridiculous amount of variety out there. Standing there in the pharmacy, it's nearly impossible to decide which one to choose. Whereas once upon a time the selection was limited to just a few brands and flavors, today it's option overload, and there's really no way to tell one from the other. Say you're in the mood for some minty gum. You've got Wrigley's, Orbit, Extra, Eclipse, Stride, Ice Breakers, Dentyne Ice, Freshen-Up, Trident, and new ones popping up all the time, like Wrigley's 5, to choose from, and that's before you decide between peppermint, wintergreen, spearmint, and hybrids like "Sweet Mint." As we said, the amount of variety is ridiculous.

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Packaging, branding, and marketing aside, at the end of the day it's just a piece of gum, and we're still left with the conundrum of which one to choose. Well, that's what we're here for. We bought spearmint-flavored gum from the 10 most popular brands (all the ones listed above), and chewed through them all. We judged them according to longevity (we measured how long the flavor lasts for), balance of flavor between mint and sugar, "juiciness," texture, overall flavor, and degree of mintiness. Our findings were rather conclusive: some gums smack you in the face with Altoid-strength mint only to peter out after a couple minutes; others sustain a mellow mint flavor for what seems like ages. Some became tough as a rubber band after 30 seconds; others were pretty easy to chew all day long, if that's your thing. A surprisingly small percentage had sugar; the vast majority had aspartame or another artificial sweetener. Some were normal-size sticks, some were rectangular pellets coated with a hard shell, one even had a minty goo in the middle. Oddly enough, not one had real mint in it. We tried all the spearmint-flavored ones so you don't have to, and ranked them from our least favorite to our favorite.

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Wrigley's Spearmint
One of the more classic chewing gums we sampled, it got decidedly mixed reviews. "This tastes like what I remember chewing gum tasting like," said one taster, while others found the texture to be too tough and the flavor too weak. If you're looking for a big burst of sweet mintiness, then this isn't the gum for you, but if you just want to chew something that's a little more low-key, this classic is a good choice. The flavor lasted for about seven minutes.

Price: 1.59/pack of 15
Nutrition (one stick): 10 calories, 2 grams sugar

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Trident
One of the most no-frills gums on the market, the straight-ahead Trident was sweet and minty, and generally well-received. The flavor tasted a bit like minty frosting and had a good texture, but some thought that there was something a little "strange" about the flavor; one thought it tasted a little like seaweed. The flavor lasted for 11 minutes.

Price: $1.49/pack of 18
Nutrition (one stick): Less than 5 calories, 0 grams sugar

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Stride
This gum, made by Kraft, had an overall enjoyable flavor and a texture that, while a little rubbery, wasn't unpleasant. The flavor wasn't overwhelming and was "more cool than sweet," according to one taster, and "very juicy." While it started out a little bitter, the flavor improved over time and lasted for about nine minutes.

Price: $1.49/pack of 14
Nutrition (one stick): 4 calories, 0 grams sugar

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Wrigley's Extra
Extra's main claim to fame is the "long-lasting flavor" advertised on the pack, and it didn't disappoint; the flavor lasted for about 15 minutes, longer than any of the competition. The flavor was also just about universally liked: just about everyone agreed that it was very sweet and minty, but not overly so, and that it "burst" with flavor and juiciness. There was a bit of "artificial" flavor from the sweetener, but that died down quickly, and for the 13 or so minutes after that all we got was a very agreeable minty-sweet flavor.

Price: $1.49/pack of 15
Nutrition (one stick): 5 calories, 0 grams sugar

Wrigley Orbit
Wrigley makes more gum varieties than any other brand out there, and they've clearly got it down to a science. Their best gum, and our near-universal favorite, was Orbit, which had a good, minty flavor, wasn't too sweet, and had "just about everything you want in a gum besides the bubbles," said one taster. Most agreed that the mint flavor was 'warmer" and fresher than the competition, and it lasted for about eight minutes. The texture was soft and chewy without being rubbery, and overall, our team couldn't find anything to complain about. The verdict is in, and Orbit sells the best spearmint-flavored gum on the market.

Price: $1.49/pack of 14
Nutrition (one piece): Less than 5 calories, 0 grams sugar

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-Dan Myers, The Daily Meal