Cotton Candy Was Once Affectionately Called Fairy Floss

Fairs and festivals boast some of the most delectable foods you'll ever find. We're talking corn dogs, funnel cakes, fried everything, and, of course, cotton candy. Made from heated sugar spun in a specialized machine, cotton candy is light, fluffy, and melts in your mouth. Being made from pure sugar, this confection, while delicious, is naturally not the best thing for your teeth, though it was ironically invented by a dentist! 

In 1897, dentist William Morrison partnered with confectioner John C. Wharton to create and patent an eclectic candy machine. This machine, consisting of a metal bowl and a spinning centerpiece perforated with tiny holes, heated sugar to a liquid state, after which the spinning forced it out through the holes. The result was long strands of rapidly cooled sugar that could be spun around a stick into a large poof. Morrison and Wharton's invention gained widespread attention at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904, where they sold 68,655 units of what they called "fairy floss." 

Although fairy floss is still used in Australia and New Zealand, the term cotton candy was coined in the 1920s by Josef Lascaux, another dentist dabbling in candy making. Naturally, Lascaux started selling the sugary treat to his patients, and we're sure he had no ulterior motives for doing so. About 20 years later, in 1949, Morrison and Wharton's original machine design was improved upon by Gold Medal Products, which added a spin-loaded base to prevent the unit from shaking and rattling while in use. Today, the company remains the leading producer of cotton candy machines.

Although William Morrison and John Wharton invented the modern interpretation of cotton candy, the confection isn't technically modern. Various types of spun sugar treats date back over 500 years, and Tim Richardson notes in his book "Sweets: A History of Candy" that medieval Venetians boiled sugar and used forks to pull out strands, then draped them on broom handles. In the late 16th century, King Henri III of France visited Venice and hosted a banquet where over 1,000 things were made of spun sugar, including tablecloths. 

Similarly, "The Experienced English Housekeeper," published by Elizabeth Raffald in 1769, has a section dedicated to creating silver and gold "webs" from sugar by spinning it from a heated state around a mold. In the 19th century, Marie-Antoine Carême, the French chef who made Napoleon's wedding cake, became known for his elaborate architectural pieces made from spun sugar, including a Venetian gondola for his son's christening. However, because the process was so labor intensive, it was reserved for special occasions and the wealthy until Morrison and Wharton modernized it, making spinning sugar quick and easy. 

Today, cotton candy can be found at almost every fair, festival, and confection shop. You can even make cotton candy at home with either a store-bought machine or some good old-fashioned elbow grease. Just remember to brush your teeth after eating it, or you might end up giving your dentist more business than you'd like!