Cotton candy is a sweet, fluffy treat made of spun sugar, often served on a paper cone. Spun sugar is made by melting sugar into a syrup and then drawing out and cooling it into fine strands. Cotton candy is a popular snack at amusement parks, carnivals, circuses, and fairs. In some countries, it is known as candy floss.
Cotton candy is commonly made by pouring melted sugar into a special machine. The machine spins the liquid sugar and forces it through small holes. The holes shape and cool the liquid. As it cools, the sugar crystallizes (hardens) into strands. The candymaker spins a paper cone inside the machine to gather up the strands, forming a puff of cotton candy.
Spun sugar is naturally white. Makers often add food dyes to the syrup to give the cotton candy color. They may also add natural and artificial flavorings, producing such flavors as banana, chocolate, raspberry, vanilla, and watermelon.
Italian cooks began making spun sugar in the 1400’s. They made it by melting sugar and drawing out the hot syrup with a fork. They wound the strands of sugar around a shaft, such as a broom handle. The cooks sculpted the spun sugar into grand desserts. Sugar was extremely expensive, so spun sugar was a dessert of the wealthy.
Spun sugar became more widely available as sugar became cheaper and as people invented machines to spin it into strands. In 1897, the American candymakers John C. Wharton and William Morrison—who was also a dentist—invented a machine to make a spun-sugar treat they called fairy floss. Their treat was a hit at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition—a world’s fair in Saint Louis, Missouri—selling more than 68,000 boxes. In the 1920’s, the American dentist Josef Lascaux sold the sweet to his patients. He made popular the name cotton candy. Early cotton candy machines rattled loudly as they spun and tended to break. The manufacturer Gold Medal Products created a quieter, more reliable cotton candy machine in 1949.
