Magic everywhere!

What would you say if you were in Australia and someone ask you: “Do you want a piece of fairy floss?” At first you would say: “a piece of what?” and then you would probably imagine something similar to the fairy cakes, small and “made by fairies”. But in this case, you would be partially wrong. Perhaps the terms “candy floss” or “cotton candy” sound more familiar to you, but just in case some of you still don´t know what fairy floss is, I´m going to tell you. 

Fairy floss is the term used in Australia for naming a form of spun sugar, a light and very sweet candy of threaded sugar which is twirled onto a stick. Since fairy floss is mostly air, a small initial quantity of sugar generates a tremendously greater final volume, causing servings to be physically large and voluminous. Now, let´s go back to its history to know the reason for this Australian and magical name. 

Most people think that the origin of "fairy floss" dates from the late 19^th century, but that´s not correct. This candy dates from the 1400s in Italy when it was called “spun sugar” and was made by melting sugar in a pan and then using a fork to make strings of sugar over an upside down bowl. This process was expensive, difficult and time consuming, so only the wealthy could have it. That´s why in 1897, the dentist William Morrison and the confectioner John C. Wharton (Nashville, Tennessee) invented the first electric machine for spinning sugar into edible threads which were often coloured, almost always in pink.

Then, they introduced it in 1904 at the St. Louis World´s Fair and sold, with great success, 68.655 boxes of spun sugar with the name of “Fairy Floss”, “floss” for its texture and “fairy” because it was the perfect fair food: it fitted in the fair atmosphere, with the castles, dragons and fairy tale creatures. That´s the reason why I said before that you would be partially wrong, it is not called “fairy” for the magical creatures, but for the place in which it was eaten. From then on, candy stores started to purchase this machine and to sell fairy floss, and in 1970s an automatic machine was created which made the product and also packaged it, making it easier to produce and to sell this candy at carnivals, fairs and stores.

  

The terms I first mentioned are the different names this candy has in other countries, “candy floss” in the UK, Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa, and “cotton candy” in the US and Canada,  being the latter invented in 1920s in New Orleans by the dentist Joseph Lascaux.

A few curious and interesting things are that fairy floss is still as popular today as it was in the days of lords and ladies. Now people can purchase their own fairy floss machine to enjoy this candy at home or buy it in nearly every grocery store, without the necessity of being in a fair, a carnival or a circus. In addition, fairy floss is so culturally important that the US celebrates the National Cotton Candy Day on December 7, it appears in some American and English films and we can also see it in Katy Perry´s video “California gurls” as if it were clouds. 

In short, what would childhood be without it? It's soft, sweet, brings memories of summer days spent under the circus tent or through the country fair's exhibits and the most important thing, it makes us happy!

Hope you enjoyed it!