Did You Know?

Cotton candy (American English), Candy Floss (British English / Hiberno English), Fairy Floss (Australian English), or Spook Asem (South Afrika Afrikaans) (translated into English ghost breath)is a form of spun sugar. Since it consists of mostly air, servings are large. Many people consider eating cotton candy part of the quintessential experience of a visit to a fairground or circus. The most popular color of cotton candy is pink, though any color can be made. Eating cotton candy is often considered only one part of its allure; the second part is the act of watching it being produced in a machine.

History

It was introduced in 1904 by William Morrison and John C. Wharton, at the St. Louis World's Fair as "Candy Floss"[1] with great success, selling 68,655 boxes at the then-high $0.25 ($5.70 in 2007 dollars), half the cost of admission to the fair.

Texture

Sweet and sticky, it dissolves quickly in the mouth (due to its amorphous nature) although it feels like wool to the touch. It does not have much of an aroma although the machine itself has a cooked sugar smell when in operation. Soft and fluffy when dry, when it comes in contact with moisture, it becomes sticky and damp. Because the sugar is hygroscopic, and has a very large surface area, it will become coarser, harder and generally less "flossy" once exposed to the atmosphere.

You want to know why I did the above, well at the moment I'm eating pink Candy Floss and was just wondering when it came from and why so many different names, especiallythe Afrikaans name Spook Asem (Ghost Breath), which unfortunately I could not find any info on, will keep searching.