February 6, 2024 – Cotton Candy

Earlier today, we were at Niblack Foods (one of our amazing advertising partners). They had a new product – gourmet cotton candy made by a local company. This cotton candy came in some wild flavors! Mark and I decided to try pickle and hot chili, and both were very good! If you want to see our taste test, check out our Facebook live here.
Spun sugar has been around for a very long time. Some say versions of spun sugar originated in Italy as early as the 15th century. It was also popular among the upper class in Europe in the 19th century. Machine-spun cotton candy was invented in 1897 by a dentist named William Morrison and a confectioner, John Wharton. They called their product Fairy Floss, and introduced it to a wide audience at the 1904 World’s Fair. It was a huge success, selling 68,655 boxes for 25 cents each.
Another dentist, Joseph Lascaux, invented a similar machine in 1921. His patent called the sweet confection “cotton candy”, which eventually overtook the name “Fairy Floss”. In the 1970s, a machine was invented that made the product and packaged it, making it easier to make at carnivals, circuses and other events. Modern commercial cotton candy machines can hold up to 3 pounds of sugar and spin at 3,450 revolutions per minute.
Cotton candy is available in a variety of flavors, but blue raspberry and pink vanilla predominate. Blue cotton candy sold at fairgrounds in the 1950s was the one of the first documented uses of blue raspberry flavoring in America. Today, Tootsie Roll Industries is the world’s largest producer of cotton candy. It’s known by different names in different countries. In the UK, it’s called candy floss, it’s fairy floss in Australia, “daddy’s beard” in France, and “girl’s hair” in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Learn more here.