Willy Wonka-style chewing gum may soon be a reality

LONDON - A UK scientist says he’s on the brink of creating a Willy Wonka-style chewing gum that changes flavours as you chew.

In the book ‘Charlie And The Chocolate Factory’, people chewing gum turning into giant blueberry when they get to the last course.

Boffin Dave Hart hopes he can turn author Roald Dahl’s crazy invention into reality without the unpleasant side effects.

Dave, who is working with the National Science and Engineering Competition to inspire young scientists of the future, has cracked the equation for the incredible new sweet.

“There were a lot of pretty off-the-wall suggestions and my one was, would it be possible to make the chewing gum from the story? My initial thought was that it wouldn’t. But on further thought I thought there might be a way of doing it and that’s how it developed,” the Sun quoted him as saying.

Scientists across the country were challenged to create the gum but Dave, based at the world-famous Institute of Food Research in Norwich, got there first.

He explored whether nanotechnology, which deals with structures just millionths of a millimetre in size, could release flavours in a controlled way.

“Science and technology is changing the future of food and these nanoparticles may hold the answer to creating a three-course gourmet gum. Scientists at Harvard University, led by Professor Tony Dinsmore, have been working on nanostructures called colloidosomes, which can be used to capture ingredients. Their findings could be a step towards developing this gum,” he added.

He proposed that each flavour would be released according to how much chewing had gone on, allowing the sequencing of the flavours. (ANI)