Historical Significance
It was a special treat at the galas of the European Regals and Aristrocrats during the times when sugar was a rare and pricey commodity dating back to the early 20th century (though it is also documented in as early as 14th century when it was home-made). However, it was not until 1970s when automatic dispensing machines of cotton candy were invented which added phenomenally to its availability and popularity.
Synonyms
Cotton candy has got some cool interesting names worldwide. Cotton Candy for Americans and Canadians. Candy Floss for the British and Irish. Fairy Floss to the Australians. Papa's Beard in French and Sugar Thread in Italian.
Nutritional facts
A typical standard candy (about 1 oz. or 30 g) which is mostly air with sugar webs generated in big volumes roughly gives 70-115 calories (quite lesser than what one gets by drinking a can of an ordinary cola drink). It is purely a carbohydrate-containing entity. Additional flavors and colors are added to change its naturally white color and offer it in eye-catching varieties.
Texture
It is sticky and sugary. Being amorphous in nature, it dissolves quickly in the mouth on watery curious tongues. As the content is solely sugar, it is hygroscopic i.e absorbs moisture from the air and turns coarser and more sticky in minutes after it is left open in air.
Manufacturing Process
Sugar is made to melt into a liquid and then spun in the machine. It then forces the sugar liquid through the multiple tiny holes that shape and cool it as it traverses away from the center in the rotating machine. As it solidifies, it leaves innumerable fine and delicate threads of sugars on the course that are often collected on a cone or a stick. The flavors and colors are pre-mixed in the liquid sugar.
Yummy Facts
Cotton Candy's first name was Fairy Floss. In 1920, it got popularized by the name it is called today i.e. Cotton Candy.
Not really so bad for your tooth unless one eats them multiple times in a day or week.
Lascaux introduced candy floss to his dental patients at his private practice in Louisiana.
A burger has total calories of around 4 Candy Floss.
A pack of regular French Fries or plain pan-cake (of about 3 oz.) equals 7 Cotton Candies in calories.
Also, it has no salts, no fats and no preservatives at all being one hundred percent sugar.
A variant, highly popular in Turkey(Pismaniye) and Persia(Pashmak) uses flour in addition to sugar.
The latest in the development is a lighted or glowing Cotton Floss patented as Glo-Cone.
Maple-flavored Candy is a popular type in Canada.
Ultimate Facts about Cotton Candy
The invention of the making process of the Cotton Floss goes to the credit of Thomas Patton, Josef Delarose Lascaux, John C. Wharton and William Morrison. Lascoux and Morrison were both dentists.
World's largest Candy Floss manufacturers are Tootsie Roll of Canada Ltd. who make fruit-flavored Cotton Candy by the name of Fluffy Stuff.
National Cotton Candy Day is celebrated in the United States on 07 December.
First reported time when it was served to a large audience was in 1904 at the World Fair in Nashville, St. Louis and earned huge profits (of more than $17000) to the vendors at the-then high-price of 25 cents per piece.
First electronic machine worked with centrifugal force to spin the melted sugar reaching big bowl through small holes. It was created by Wharton and Morrison.
Patton introduced a separate method of producing cotton candy with caramelizing sugar made to form threads on a fork when worked upon a gas-fired rotating plate.
At the introductory price of 25 cents in 1904, today it costs around $6 a piece.
Automated machines today do revolutions at a staggering speed of 3450 spins per minute to make a quick appearance in the hands of its forfeiters.