Cotton Candy ~ Vending Success

Cotton candy is a wonderful airy and fluffy sugar treat.  It is served at nearly all carnivals, street fairs and some movie theaters. It is a big seller all around the country and can be found at candy shops and amusement parks.  CandyMachines.com carries a line of floss spinning Cotton Candy Machines  and supplies.

Machine-spun cotton candy was introduced in 1897 by two Tennessee candy-makers, William Morrison and John C. Warton. In 1904, they took their “fairy floss” cotton candy to the St. Louis World’s Fair where Morrison and Wharton meet with high demand and sold more than 68,000 boxes at 25 cents each. That was half the price of admission to the fair and visitors were willing to pay it. During the six months of the fair, they grossed approximately $17,000. With inflation that would equate $370,000 in today’s terms. A real vending success!

A year later, a candy store purchased a machine and started selling the fairy floss for five to ten cents a serving. The treat was referred to as spun sugar, candy floss, or fairy floss until the early 1920s, when the new name of “cotton candy” started to become the more popular term due to its similar appearance to a bloom of cotton.

Ever wonder what happens inside the cotton candy machine? First, sugar is melted until it becomes a liquid. Then, the liquid sugar is spun as the machine forces it through tiny holes that shape and cool the liquid. After it cools, the sugar becomes a solid again.  The thousands of tiny crystallized sugar threads are then collected by gently rotating a paper cone around the inside of the machine. Once the puff of cotton candy is a large fluffy ball – it’s served.

Cotton candy, just like sugar, is white. Pink and blue cotton candy is colored with food dyes.  The biggest advances in cotton candy production have actually been the addition of colors and flavors. There are a variety of Flufftastic Floss flavors and colors; Pink Vanilla Cloud, Cheery Cherry, and Blue Raspberry Bomb all made with real sugar–no high fructose corn syrup!

Each quart makes approximately 30-40 Cotton Candy cones. A pint makes about 15-20 Cotton Candy cones.

Sweet Facts:

There is only one ingredient in cotton candy: sugar.

There is about as much sugar in cotton candy as in a can of soda.

National Cotton Candy Day is celebrated on November 7 each year.