Bonsaï came about when Harriet, a keen consumer of chewing gum, learnt that industrial gums were made from synthetic polymers derived from oil (plastic). She challenged her friend Ludovic, an entrepreneur in the confectionary sector, to come up with a healthy chewing gum that would meet the environmental concerns of their time. When Ludovic rose to the challenge by finding the suppliers and ingredients necessary to develop this new concept, Harriet decided that the opportunity was too good to miss, and left her job in the health food sector to launch the new brand. Soon joined by Valentin, an environmentally aware business consultant bored of his conservative work setting and desperate for a new challenge, the two friends were ready to tackle the chewing gum market!
The team named their new product Bonsaï, a reference to the tree sap used to replace the plastic found in industrial gums. This sap comes from the sapodilla, a Central American fruit tree with exceptionally chewy sap that local populations have been using for centuries as a natural way to freshen their breath and clean their teeth. The ingredient is harvested by local producers using sustainable methods which respect the forest.
Once dehydrated, the tree sap is filtered and heated to remove impurities, then cooled and transformed into a natural gum base, which is then flavoured with natural extracts and sweetened with xylitol, a natural sweetener extracted from birch bark. The final product is just as tasty and chewy as a normal gum, but entirely natural and plastic free! It contains no sugar, no aspartame, and no controversial ingredients like BHT that are so often added to industrial gums, and is entirely biodegradable.
In addition, all the materials used to manufacture this chewing gum and its packaging are environmentally friendly: the packaging is entirely made from FSC-certified recyclable cardboard and plant based biodegradable film.