Cotton Candy

Cotton candy has had an interesting and varied history since its emergence at in the last year of the nineteenth century, as speculation and uncertain surround its very creation. Historians are not exactly sure who it was that first invented the delicious candy treat loved by millions of circus and amusement parks across the country. Generally, four people are associated with the origins of cotton candy, and each one for slightly different reasons, and yet all have received recognition at different times as the inventor of cotton candy.

John C. Wharton and William Morrison, two candy makers from Tennessee, received a patent for their cotton candy machine in 1899. Their machine ran by electrical power and involved a process which melted and spun sugar through tiny holes using centrifugal force. Wharton and Morrison went on to introduce their amazing new invention at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904.
Next we have Thomas Patton who received a separate patent around 1900 for different process of making cotton candy than that introduced by Wharton and Morrison. Patton had been experimenting with ways of caramelizing sugar and thereafter forming threads by the use of a big fork. In order to get the threads to spin and he employed a gas-fired rotating plate. Patton’s design worked well enough that he was able market his product at no less than the Ringley Brother’s Circus. Its resultant popularity with the children was hardly unexpected.

At about the same time that Patton was wowing circuses with his brand of cotton candy, a Louisiana dentist named Josef Delarose Lascaux had managed to create his own form of cotton candy which interestingly enough he offer at his dental practice. Unlike the others around at the time of cotton candy’s inception, Lascaux never received a single patent or trademark for the confection.

Here’s the more interesting question. How is cotton candy made?

Cotton candy is very simple to make. First sugar is melted into a liquid state by a built in heater and then it is spun in the cotton candy machine. The motion of the machine forces the liquefied sugar through thousands of tiny holes that shape and cool it. The moment these thin threads of sugar hit the air, they cool and re-solidify, so in the bowl of the machine a web of sugar threads develops that are collected and served on a stick or in a cone.

Cotton Candy Machine

A cotton candy machine uses sugar, a heated pan, centrifugal force and tiny holes to create the popular treat at carnivals and other events. To briefly explain the process: First, the operator of a cotton candy machine pours pure sugar and food coloring into a centralized plan. As the sugar melts, centrifugal force from this spinning pan forces threads of sugar through a mesh screen.

The hot sugar threads cool down in the open air and are flung against the round outside wall of the machine. Then, the operator then twirls a paper cone around the perimeter, causing individual sugar threads to stick to the cone and to each other. The result is a large pile of spun sugar originally called “Fairy Floss,” or more commonly known as cotton candy

The original idea behind cotton candy dates back nearly to the medieval times to a cooking method called 'spun sugar'. As sugar melted in a small container, the cooks would gather some of the hot syrup on a fork and fling it across a larger container. When the heated sugar cooled, light threads would form and chefs bundled them together to form a dessert. But this dessert was difficult and time consuming to make, a fact which made it impractical until the invention of the cotton candy machine.

The first commercial cotton candy machine was invented in 1897 by two candy makers from Tennessee named William Morrison and John C. Wharton. The machine used an electric heating element to melt crystallized sugar and a motor to force the threads through a mesh. Instead of using paper cones, the first batches of Fairy Floss were served in wooden boxes.

At the time, the treat itself was very expensive, selling for an exorbitant 25 cents a box. (a ticket for admission to the 1904 World's Fair itself was only 50 cents.) Despite the high costs, the new treat was a hit and its popularity grew. Yet, at times, this success was overshadowed by the tendency for the machines to breakdown.

Around 1949, improvements were made to the basic cotton candy machine. The Gold Medal Company developed a more reliable mechanism for heating and distributing the sugar which eliminated much of problems that earlier machines were suffering from. Consequently, the majoring of the cotton candy machines in use today at fairs, carnivals and charity events are still being manufactured by Gold Medal Products of Cincinnati, Ohio.

The demand for the availability of this machines have prompted rental stores to keep cotton candy machines on hand as well as the special “floss” sugar needed to make it for use at schools and fundraising events. Also, in recent years, a home version of the cotton candy machine has also become available through selected specialty stores though these models tend be less durable and subject to breakdown.