Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Gold Mine Gum

Gold Mine GumThis was one of the worst purchases I would make as a kid. I love little nuggets of gum (and often bought those Chicklets Tinys as well) but really the selling point here was the fact that it came in a real cloth bag! Still, it was a sweet treat with a reusable package (I would keep little pieces of beach glass or pennies flattened by trains in mine).

I have no idea if this is the same brand that I would buy at the Stop ‘n Go in Munroe Falls, OH. I seem to recall a little miner in a big hat grinning his fool’s gold heart out on the front, but I might have imagined that.

image

Gold Mine Gum is just little candy coated nuggets of gum. I recall it being a fruity flavor (ala Juicyfruit) when I was a kid, but this stuff tastes kind of like cherry to me.

The gum was actually inside a little clear cellophane bag inside, which is a good thing. After I took the photo (and chewed up everything outside of the bag in the picture), I didn’t put it back in the wrapper. The stuff I chewed right then was nice and soft. The stuff I’m chewing right now as I write this is a little crumbly to start, but as with trading card gum wafers, it softens up eventually. It’s sweet and sugary and then loses its flavor. The bubbles are okay, not super-smooth like the high-tech bubble gums that came long later.

But back to the bad purchase ... there’s not a lot in here. 2 ounces of gum isn’t much and at a retail price of $1.25, there are better deal out there. But there’s something about the idea of chewing representations of an ore that may one day be made into your dental work that’s appealing.

Note: this isn’t the same brand of gum from when I was a kid.

Name: Gold Mine Nugget Bubble Gum
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Espeez
Place Purchased: sample from Espeez
Price: retail $1.25
Size: 2 ounces
Calories per ounce: unknown
Categories: Gum, Mexico

POSTED BY Cybele AT 12:23 pm Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. I love this stuff. It was premium gum for special occasions when I was a kid.

    Comment by Jeanna on 4/18/07 at 3:50 pm #
  2. I’m not sure if this is awesome or awful. The cloth bag and nuggets of gum look good, but the fact that it’s just ordinary bubblegum…oh well it’s not out here anyway, so I don’t have to worry about it. :D

    Comment by Terry on 4/19/07 at 12:15 am #
  3. Just looking at it I can remember how the little nuggets felt when I shoved a fistful in my mouth. Loved this gum!

    Comment by patti on 4/19/07 at 3:37 am #
  4. “as with trading card gum wafers, it softens up eventually”

    It’s because of such turns of phrase that you should be reigning queen supreme of candy blogging (if you’re not wielding that scepter already).  Your knowledge base!  Your awareness of the telling comparison!  Your ability to drawn on all realms of candy-eating experience! 

    I am, once again, in awe.

    Comment by good enough cook on 4/19/07 at 4:40 am #
  5. Nice to see that some companies still see some value in presentation.  I would totally buy a gum with a “pleasant” rating for $1.25 if it came with a reuseable bag.  It’s the same reason people buy Crown Royal whiskey.

    Comment by Jon on 4/19/07 at 4:44 am #
  6. Back when it was considered safe to do such a thing, my friend and I would walk a mile to a little store, spend an hour deciding what to choose, and always walk out with these and Fun Dip.  I’d forgotten all about them.

    And I agree, you are reigning Queen Supreme of Candy Blogging. Your acute awareness of taste, texture and smell has made me pay much more attention to what I indulge in.  Who knew I lean toward a hint of salt in my chocolates?

    Comment by janelle on 4/19/07 at 7:00 pm #
  7. Cybele's avatar

    Jeanna - I’m just giggling at the idea of “special ocassion gum!”

    good enough cook - aw, you make me blush!

    Patti - I also found some mockolate nuggets that looked just like this ... not the same at all. But I probably would have liked them as a kid.

    Terry - it’s a mediocre product with a special place in most grown-ups hearts.

    Jon - I think I carried a Crown Royal bag as a purse when I was in middle school. I was a sucker for anything purple ... or with a drawstring. Let’s face it, I was just a sucker.

    Janelle - yeah, the walk my sister (and sometimes brother) would take was about 3/4 of a mile down the side of a rural highway. In our bare feet.

    Comment by Cybele on 4/20/07 at 11:36 am #
  8. I used this when I was looking for “themed candy” for a little US History presentation I had to do. I liked it quite a bit, although as you said, it sells with “novelty candy” pricing. I thought it tasted like JuicyFruit with a banana-ish emphasis.

    Comment by nog_lorp on 4/23/07 at 6:58 pm #
  9. This gum bring back the best of memories
    days of sitting around with this fun
    filled gum

    Comment by Josie on 7/07/07 at 11:13 am #
  10. You are 100% correct about the previous packaging.  It was a red bag with a yellow drawstring.  The miner was in white and I think he may have even had a gold tooth.  He was holding a gold nugget between the fingers of his left hand, if I recall correctly.  That product may have been an earlier incarnation if the company changed hands, or it may have been named something slightly different.  I seem to recall a “Gold Nuggets” bubblegum.

    Comment by Shelley on 5/22/08 at 4:32 pm #
  11. molly539's avatar

    I remember this gum or a similar brand from when I was a kid.  There was a candy store right next to my elementary school and whenever a shipment of this gum (actually, I think the one I bought was called “Gold Rush”) came in it would sell out within minutes.  That and Pixie Sticks were the most popular candies among my friends.

    Comment by molly539 on 8/14/08 at 2:35 pm #
  12. I remember Gold Rush Gum, but I also remember another item sold in the little “tobacco bags” they were Cherry ITS and Orange ITS. Basically just flavored sugar formed into red and orange balls of varying sizes, but they were some of my favorite candy.

    While Gold Rush Gum is all over the internet, I have yet to find anyone who remembers Orange ITS and Cherry ITS.


    What about you?

    Comment by Joni on 11/03/08 at 8:19 am #
  13. I do remember the bags of Orange ITS and Cherry ITS.  They were sort of tangy and sugary at the same time.  smile

    Comment by shelley chandler on 11/03/08 at 3:38 pm #
  14. Oh, yes! I LOVED Orange-ITS! Wish they were still around!!

    Comment by Steve Oelrich on 8/08/09 at 10:43 am #
  15. At the risk of dating myself,does anybody else remember a variant of this called “Love-Its”? This was in the early 70s.The gum came in a hot pink bag with flowers on it,like those “flower power” daisy stickers that were so popular at the time,

    Sigh.The world was a better place then.

    Comment by Roger on 9/11/09 at 6:52 am #
  16. Sure, I remember Love-Its Roger! I just ran a search for it and wound up here. In kindergarten, I chewed this stuff constantly. The bag had a little sticker on it. I peeled it off on put it on the back of my black hooded jacket when I was 5, and always called it my “Love Its” jacket. Mom was nice enough not to wash it, (I didn’t wear it that often), and the sticker stayed on for a long time until it fell off somewhere. The gum was great, and I used to love keeping those little sacks.

    Comment by Sharry A on 10/25/09 at 8:36 am #
  17. Came here from a search for Gold Rush gum (I guess Halloween made me think back to my candy of yore).  Also found this pic of both Gold Rush and Love Its candy, check it out:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/tracis_retro/2595285828/

    Comment by Kurt P on 10/31/09 at 6:06 pm #
  18. Yeah, I finally found others who remember Cherry Its and Orange Its! If I recall correctly, there was a little straw that came with it so you could suck the little candy balls through.

    Comment by bridget on 1/22/10 at 6:51 am #
  19. My family used to buy this then throw away the candy and keep the bag. No one liked the candy but we filled the bag with coffee and threw it in our campfire pot. Boiled it and had coffee without grounds. Never tried to clean it out but just threw the whole thing away.

    Comment by DrE on 3/02/10 at 4:44 pm #
  20. I remember all these little bags of candy and gum. Orange-Its were my favorite. I so wish someone would make them again so I could share them with my kiddo!

    Comment by jps on 7/18/11 at 9:31 am #
  21. I wonder if some people remember Gold Rocks bubble gum sold by Dubble Bubble. I would imagine it was a different company back in the day, but it’s essentially the same thing.
    http://www.applecandyco.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Dubble-Bubble-Gold-Rocks-Nugget-Bubble-Gum200.jpg

    Comment by Zach on 2/28/16 at 2:35 pm #
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