PÜR Gum Review: Bye, Bye Aspartame!

How was your holiday? Good! Still full? Well, today’s post is pretty the antidote to being over-sugared and over-stuffed. It’s gum! A review of refreshing — and aspartame-free — gum!

Let me first say that I LOVE gum. In fact, when I first created my profile description on MySpace (yes, we’re talking that long ago), I listed myself as a “sugar-free gum aficionado.” If there was a flavor out there, I’d chomp it, and in my purse I’d carry no fewer than five varieties at all times. It was quite the party trick. And then, I began to notice the ingredients … and how I really didn’t feel all that great chewing gum that had aspartame in it (no matter what the new research says — I trust how things make my body feel above all) and almost all of them have aspartame in them. No matter how tasty they were — and some of them were SUPER tasty — I just didn’t feel right about chewing aspartame that regularly.
These days I don’t have hardly any aspartame in my diet (not worth eating if I can avoid it!), which has meant that my gum-chewing days have been limited. I’ve tried a few other brands of aspartame-free gum before, but nothing really quenched my gum-loving needs like the more processed kinds. That was until 100-percent aspartame-free PÜR Gum ended up on my doorstep for FBE. In four flavors — Spearmint, Wintergreen, Peppermint and Pomegranate Mint. Thank the gum gods!

You can see the ingredients on the edge of the package and here — the gum is lightly sweetened with xylitol and each piece has 5 calories.

Furthermore, PÜR Gum is vegan, non-GMO, gluten-free, nut-free, diabetic friendly, dairy-free and soy-free. (It’s also proudly Swiss made … )

Okay, and clearly this is just for looks, but each flavor has a pretty little design on it if you hold it up to the light in just the right way. It’s the details, people …


Each pack has nine pieces of gum in it and is packaged in a box and foil pack like many of the sugar-free or whitening gums are these days. (Yes, at one time I was so into gum that I really thought a lot about packaging. Obviously, the foil pack is best for freshness!)


Although a serving size is technically two pieces, I found one to be quite enough for me.

And overall, these are pretty darn awesome. The more conventional minty flavors of Peppermint, Spearmint and Wintergreen were very much on par for what you’d expect from more traditional gum. Typically peppermint is my favorite minty flavor of most gums, but I found myself enjoying all three of the PÜR Gum varieties. The gum doesn’t get overly hard over time, and the minty fresh flavor sticks around for at least a few hours.
Then there’s the Pomegranate Mint. For me, this one really missed the mark. It starts deliciously, a little fruity but also minty. So fun! But the flavor fades — and fast. We’re talking like five minutes fast, and you’re just left with something flavorless and totally uninspired to chew on. Not my ideal gum …
So, I’m pretty much pretending that Pomegranate Mint doesn’t exist, and just chewing on Peppermint, Spearmint and Wintergreen instead. Of those three, I couldn’t even begin to pick a fave — they’re all great! In fact, PÜR Gum sent me about four packs of each flavor, and I’m down to my last few. I’ll definitely be going to stocking up on more. The gum aficionado in me is back, baby, and it’s happily aspartame-free!
Are other gum lovers out there? Are you happy to have an aspartame-free gum option, too? —Jenn