Definition of "gooeyness"

The trick to eating catheads was to get the butter on them before they got cold—then they were delicious. When, unluckily, they were allowed to get cold, they tended to a gooeyness, not unlike a wad of tired gum.

1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 6, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings‎, New York: Bantam, published 1971, page 30