Our Story

Hi there! We're two sisters, Amberlin (Amber) and Julia (Goo - yes, that's really her pet name), who live in Northern Alberta, Canada, and have a passion for God's creation and all things wild, natural and traditional.

Amberlin and Julia are dedicated to providing both a quality customer and chewing experience for our wild hearted customers! 

 

Our Canadian Spruce Gum is hand foraged in the forests of Western Canada (primarily Northern Alberta) then carefully filtered and combined to give wild hearted folks one of the most incredible chewing experiences available on the market. It contains no additives - just spruce resin (sometimes traces of Tamarack and/or Pine get in...). Coming straight from the tree, our Spruce Gum is NOT sweet, and one piece of gum offers up to 3 days' worth of chewing with good flavour and freshness, in addition to providing a good jaw workout!

 

Our Backstory:


Being raised on a mixed farm in Northern Alberta, and having many opportunities to spend time out in the woods learning survival skills, Amberlin and Julia grew up free to explore and experiment things that interested them. Amber has always loved traditional food prep and wild foraging, and Julia is skilled in hunting, and traditional brain tanning.

Amber first heard about chewing spruce gum around the age of 8 from an older fellow from Missouri. While camping with her Dad and siblings camping out at their mouse-infested trapper's cabin deep in the woods of Northern British Columbia, her curiosity got the best of her and she remembered what Mr. Argile from Missouri had said about chewing spruce gum when he was a boy.

She looked up at the sticky goo on the Spruce tree near her and thought, "How in the world can you chew THAT as GUM?" Despite her logical reasoning, she climbed up its branches, removed some of the pitch and put it in her mouth. Bit of a sticky business: of course the fresh sap got all over her hands, in in hair, and completely stuck in her teeth!

"That does NOT turn into chewing gum!" She told her Mom when she got home and they worked the pitch out of her hair using peanut butter.

Despite her first attempt of chewing spruce gum being unsuccessful, she couldn't shake off what Mr. Argile told her. In 2017 she decided to try again. After finding a little gum-ball on a Spruce Tree (at the same trapper's cabin!), she experienced her first successful Spruce Gum and was hooked!

She later did some research and found out that spruce gum used to be very popular in the 1800's before other chicle and paraffin gum came to the market. It was a booming business with thousands of pounds of pitch being harvested and made into chewing gum that was sold all across America! (Not to mention it was chewed and used for many different things by Indigenous peoples and early American settlers.)

After trying and researching different ways to prepare spruce gum, she came up with a method to filter and make the perfect chewing gum using pure spruce pitch.  She got super excited and began sharing it with family and friends, and not long after she was shipping her Spruce Gum to other wild hearted, nature loving folks all across the world.

Julia, a few years younger, also became fascinated with this wild chewing gum and was there cheering Amber on the whole way. She saw the quality, incredible potential and demand of the product. 

Fast forward to 2024 during some dramatic life changes, Amber and Julia decided to partner together and begin a chewing gum revolution! With Amber's analytical attention to detail and Julia's go-getter optimism, they made a great team. But what to name themselves? After a group sibling prayer just minutes before becoming official, God brought the name AmberGoo. And it stuck! Two sisters bringing back the original chew of North America! NO more chewing plastics & ingesting toxic sweeteners!  

A year later their sister Sarah joined the AmberGoo team - so when your order arrives, you will receive a handwritten thank you note most likely from Sarah :)

Amber and Goo are honoured provide unique and quality wildcrafted products for wild and natural-loving folks, and they give all glory to their Lord and King Jesus Christ for His blessing and grace upon them!

So jump on board! Ditch your plastic, chemical laden chews and choose SPRUCE GUM.

We plan to expand our products into brain tanned leather ties and jewelry (Yup! Julia does the real traditional brain tanning!) so be sure to subscribe to stay posted!

Thanks for sticking around ;-)

~The AmberGoo team: Amberlin, Julia and Sarah

 


 

How long does shipping take?

If you want your order soon with insurance, then select a TRACKED SHIPPING method.

If you are fine with the slight risk of loss and a potentially longer wait time, but want to save on cost, select our Canada Post NO TRACKING or INSURANCE (5-20 days.) But remember: We are NOT responsible for lost or damaged packages when using this shipping option.

Do you sell anywhere besides online?

We stock two stores in our Grande Prairie area: Homesteader Health Gateway, and The Crooked Creek General Store. Besides that we're strictly online.

Who should NOT chew Spruce Gum?

Spruce Gum is a potential choking hazard and for this reason we do not recommend children under the age of 8.

Also, those with dentures, braces, weak or few teeth, jaw issues, allergies to trees, or who have a difficult time chewing things like raw carrots, hard candies or crunchy croutons or tougher meat like steak and jerky should avoid chewing AmberGoo Spruce Gum.

If you decide to chew our Spruce Gum despite this warning, we are not responsible for any harm that might occur.

What's it GOOD for? What's the SCIENCE?

  • Helps clean teeth
  • Promotes healthy gums
  • Increases saliva which helps remineralize the teeth
  • Freshens breath
  • Incredible spruce flavour!
  • Sugar-Free
  • Strengthens jaw muscles giving you a more defined jawline
  • Contains powerful antibacterial, antimicrobial, anti-viral, anti-septic, and anti-fungal properties
  • Increases saliva production which aids digestion
  • Unlike ordinary chewing gum, one piece of spruce gum can be chewed for 4-8 hours/up to 3 days! Once removed from your mouth it will be become firm again, so save it (in the little bag or the tin, or set on your bed post) for the next time you want to chew it! This can be repeated until it gets too tough to chew, falls apart, or becomes too bitter for your liking.

Traditionally, spruce pitch was believed to have powerful antibacterial properties and was used to make an incredible salve (check out our AmberGoo Bomb!) that rivalled the healing abilities of raw honey and colloidal silver as seen in these studies, 1, 2.

SCIENCE:

View this evaluation of the anti-inflammatory, anti-plaque efficacy, and biocompatibility of Norway spruce (Picea abies) resin extract for oral care applications

PubMed article on Spruce Resin for treating chronic wounds.

This article explains the Antibacterial Activities of Spruce Bark (Picea abies L.) Extract and Its Components Against Human Pathogens

Do you add ANYTHING to the Spruce Gum?

No!

Our Spruce Gum is one ingredient: Canadian Spruce Pitch. Picked straight off the tree, carefully filtered, hand cut, and packaged into a tin, ready for you to chew.

Some people wonder if we dust our Spruce Gum with anything. Again, no. The fine powder is super fine spruce resin created during our cleaning and packaging process.

In contrast, because of its many ingredients and additives, modern chewing gum is highly regulated in many countries. Most of the well known chewing gum brands contain titanium dioxide, artificial food dyes, plastics (gum base), BHT, Talc, Calcium Phosphate, Aspartame and Sugar. Talk about toxic overload!

After chewing a piece of Spruce Gum for 4-8 hours/up to 3 days, simply let it go back to the earth! But if you happen to swallow it, no harm done :) Some people actually will ingest Spruce Pitch for its medicinal properties.

*Primarily Black and Red Spruce pitch with traces of Pine and Tamarack pitch. May contain traces of natural debris.

How LONG can you chew it?

Most people find they can chew a piece of spruce gum for4-8 hours/up to 3 days. You know it's done being chewed when it gets too tough for your liking or begins to become brittle and loose its gumminess.

What if it DOESN'T turn into gum?

The odd time there is someone who is unable to get their piece of Spruce Gum into a gummy consistency. It either dissolves or they end up with pieces of spruce pitch all over their mouth.

WHAT YOU CAN TRY

Watch this video or follow the suggestions below:

-Try another piece or two! Keep it in one side of your mouth, warming and working the pieces together. Some folks needs to try a few times before they get the hang of it.

-Allow it to warm up in your mouth for a few minutes before chewing it. People can often skip the intense shattering phase by simply doing this.

-Drink a hot drink while trying it as this makes the shatter less intense and helps bring the pieces back together easier if one's mouth is warm.

-Chew more aggressively!

-Swallow or spit out your excess saliva and keep chomping!

Why does it sometimes not turn into gum? We're still figuring that out. Because our Spruce Gum is a pure product of nature it could be a number of things: the PH of the person's mouth; perhaps they were just drinking alcohol; maybe they just finished eating something cold; maybe it's simply because it's their first time and they just don't have the technique; or, maybe there's another reason that we're not aware of yet.

Be assured that we personally test each batch to ensuring that our customers receive the best chewing experience possible.

However, if you happen to be one of those people who just couldn't get it gummy, no shame! Please reach out to us at support@ambergoo.store and we will see how we can help you :)

Does it actually get GUMMY?

YES!!

Often the initial shatter and pull-back-together takes between 20 and 60 seconds and so it can be a bit of a shocker if you don't know what to expect. But once it comes together you'll be delighted by the quality chew!

It's all part of the wild experience :)

What does it TASTE like?

Spruce Gum tasteslike a spruce tree!Not sweet at all, but fresh and crisp like an evergreen forest on a summer's morning walk. Your mouth will be left feeling clean and your breath refreshed.

Who SHOULD chew Spruce Gum?

If you're trying to stop smoking, chew Spruce Gum!

If you want to stop chewing tobacco, chew Spruce Gum!

If you want to stay awake while driving, chew Spruce Gum!

If you love chewing firmer gum to enhance your jawline, chew Spruce Gum!

If you love chewing gum but hate sugars and toxins, chew Spruce Gum!

If you love wild and rugged and are in for an experience, chew Spruce Gum!

If you value your health - chew Spruce Gum.

Now you tell me, are you chewing Spruce Gum?

Is it all the SAME?

Because our Spruce gum is handcrafted and a product of nature each batch is a bit different. However, we personally test every batch to ensure that our customers experience the best quality chew possible.

Some of these variations include:

1) Colour appearance: Some batches have a darker appearance while others are more golden.

2) Flavour strength and bitterness: Some batch are very sprucy, some lean more to the bitter side, and some are more mild in both spruce flavour and bitterness.

3) Length of chew: In general, one piece lasts for 4-8 hours/up to 3 days. Sometimes it's 1-2 days but we've also had some customers chew a piece for 4 days!

4) Toughness of chew: Some pieces are tougher or softer than others. Either way, they still provide more of a full bodied chew than most other chewing gums.

5) Size: Because our Spruce Gum is hand scored there are some pieces that are larger and smaller than others.

In all these variations we do our best to provide a consistent product while keeping things simple and natural.