Zapote or chicozapote are the common names of the tree from which chicle, the chewing gum resin, is extracted. Chicozapote is native to the jungles of eastern Nicaragua and to the great tracts of tropical forest that cover parts of Guatemala, Belize and the Yucatán Peninsula (México).

Chicozapote is one of the most common trees in the jungles of Mesoamerica, There are up to 30 species in some areas.

The Great Petén is a large jungle that covers part of the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, Belize and Guatemala—an ancient Mayan product is harvested.

This is the largest evergreen jungle on the American continent second only to the Amazon basin. Most zapote is found in the land of the ancient Maya, creators of the greatest known pre-Columbian civilization in Central America. There are many chicozapote trees suggesting that the Maya planted them there. The wood of the tree is very hard. Five hundred years after being put into buildings, zapote doors and lintels are still visible in many ancient Mayan structures.

Chicle is harvested from July through February - - the rainy season. Once a tree has been chicleado (harvested)—producing from 500 grams to two kilograms of latex—it should be left alone for up to five years or so, depending on the number of times it has been harvested.

No one knows if the ancient Maya chewed chicle, but pre-Hispanic evidence suggests the Mexicas—also known as Aztecs—once did. Women and young folks chewed it to clean their teeth.

Legend has it that the American James Adams got his idea for chewing gum by watching Mexico's President Santa Ana chewing away on chicle. Adams decided to mass market it sweetened and flavored; Adams chewing gum made James a millionaire.

However, it was not until the Second World War that the trend went global. American soldiers started to chew gum to relieve tension, it caught on, and gum soon grew to be an international phenomenon.

In 1943, México exported 8,000 tons of chicle to the United States, the largest amount in the industry's history. Later, cheaper, artificial gum changed that,  and soon only a few companies were using real chicle in their gum.

Chicle, pepper and various kinds of palm have ready markets, and the more than 120 species of tree in Greater Petén are all just a fraction of what its jungles have to offer