Uses

Modern chicleros

Although the peak of chicle production occurred in 1930, the latex is still being extracted today, primary in Belize and Guatemala, but also in Mexico (Campeche and Chiapas), Honduras and Venezuela (Pennington 1990, Coppen 1995). The techniques of tapping chicozapote trees for the latex have not changed much, if at all, in the last 100 years. Chicleros still climb the trees and make cuts with machetes. The trees can be tapped at three-year intervals to produce 2.7-3.6 kg of chicle each (Lakshminarayana 1980). There are still problems with over-tapping of trees, but sustainable harvest plans are being drawn up in Belize (Alcorn 1994), and the harvest of trees for timber is prohibited in major tapping regions (Pennington 1990). Japan is currently the major market for chicle latex as a source of "natural" chewing gum, importing 800-1000 tonnes annually, but the popularity of natural and organic forest products is increasing demand for the latex in Europe and the United States as well (Coppen 1995).