Cotton Candy

(Google Image) 

By Diane Forrest,

The other night as I was waiting in the checkout line in the store I saw a little boy in front of me holding a bright colored bag.  The words Fluffy Stuff were written on the bag along with a picture of a pink fluffy cloud. Immediately my thoughts flew back to my childhood and trips to the amusement park at my grandmother's home.  I remember standing out in the cool night air watching as a man took a long white paper cone and twirl it inside a big round noisy machine.  In seconds strands of pink spun sugar started to appear on the cone, and as it continued to circle the machine the pink cloud began to grow.  When it was finished, I was handed this large cone of pink fluffy stuff that surely must have come straight from heaven.  I put a piece in my mouth and it tasted like a warm sweet piece of air.

(Google Image)

Would you believe that this sweet mass of spun sugar was invented by a dentist?  I am of the opinion he was looking for repeat business.  In 1897 dentist William Morrison and confectioner John C. Wharton introduced cotton candy to a wide audience at the 1904 World's Fair as "Fairy Floss".  At the time the cost of a box was 25 cents, which was quite expensive at that time.    In the 1920's Fairy Floss was renamed as Cotton Candy.  In the 1970s an automatic cotton candy machine was created which made the product and packaged it. This made it easier to produce and available to sell at carnivals, fairs, and stores.  Cotton candy is white, however food coloring is added to color it to pinks, blues, yellows or any other color.

(Google Image)

Today is National Cotton Candy Day.  Why not revisit your childhood and indulge in a bright colored bag full of fluffy stuff.