Cotton Candy - History of Cotton Candy

Do you enjoy eating cotton candy at a carnival or fair? Cotton candy is a big ball of puffy spun sugar that is wrapped around a paper cone or stick. It comes in different colors-pink, blue, or purple. It is light and airy, but when you put it in your mouth, you can taste the sugar and it quickly melts!

Cotton candy was invented in 1897 by William Morrison and John C. Wharton. These men were candy makers. They lived in Nashville, Tennessee. Cotton candy has a pretty simple recipe. It is only made out of sugar and flavoring. It is the cotton candy machine that does the work of turning this sugar and flavoring into the light ball of spun sugar.

In a cotton candy machine, sugar is melted to a liquid. Then, it spins in the machine until it is absorbed. The machine has tiny holes at the bottom, and eventually a cone shape is formed. The sugar crystalizes and then caramelizes as it spins around and around in the machine. A paper cone or stick is twirled around in the machine to catch the spun sugar into a ball. The flavoring is added to the machine so that as the sugar spins, it takes on the color of the flavoring. The most popular colors for cotton candy are blue, pink, and purple.

Cotton candy was originally called "fairy floss." This is because the machine turns the sugar into a very light stringy kind of substance that is then collected on the paper cone or stick. Fairy floss became known as cotton candy in 1920.

The next time you see cotton candy at a fair, carnival, or even at a sporting event, you should try it. It is amazing how sugar and a little flavoring can be turned into a big ball of "fairy floss."