Candy floss is a form of spun sugar and is known as Cotton Candy in the USA and Fairy Floss in Australia.
Candy Floss is a favourite sweet served on a stick usually at fairgrounds or circuses and normally has food colouring added to change its natural white colour. Sticky and sweet, 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. It is 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
History of Candy Floss
Cotton candy was first recorded around the mid 1700′s. At that time, spun sugar was an expensive, labour-intensive endeavour and was not generally available to the public.
Machine-spun cotton candy was invented in 1897 by William Morrison and John C. Wharton and first introduced to a wide audience at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904 as “Fairy Floss” with great success, selling 68,655 boxes at $0.25. Fairy floss was renamed to “Cotton Candy” in the 1920s.