Cotton candy (also known as
candy floss or in
France,
la barbe de papa --
Papa's beard), along with
candy apples and
popcorn make up the
trinity
of
fairground foods. Usually served in a
plastic bag or wrapped around a
paper cone,
cotton candy is
literally
coloured,
flavoured sugar. Most commonly
coloured pink or
blue, one
serving generally weighs one
ounce (roughly thirty
grams).
Cotton candy is made from melted sugar, stretched into very thin, very sticky strands
which form light, cottony clumps.
Originally called fairy floss, cotton candy was invented in 1897 by two candymakers from Nashville,
Tennessee, William Morrison and John C. Wharton. Fairy floss was first sold at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase
Exposition (better known as the St. Louis World's Fair) for twenty-five cents a box -- half of the price of
admission. 68,655 boxes were sold.
Cotton candy is very simple to make, provided one has the right tools. Unfortunately, those tools don't come cheap --
cotton candy machines can cost anywhere from $USD 300 to $USD 2000.
According to the FunFoodZ company web site, cotton candy is incredibly profitable -- $USD
0.15 worth of sugar and $USD 0.05 for a bag can be sold for anywhere from $USD 1 to $USD 3 dollars.
One one ounce serving of cotton candy contains approximately 100 calories and less sugar than a can of pop.
Sources:
- How Stuff Works:
- http://www.howstuffworks.com
- The Straight Dope:
- http://www.straightdope.com
- FunFoodZ Company Website:
- http://www.hi-profit.com/funfoodz