| Cotton candy - what would childhood be without it? It's | | | | strands, Patton used a flat disk or plate heated from |
| sticky, sweet airiness brings memories of summer | | | | underneath with a gas fire to melt the sugar. He then |
| days spent under the circus tent, or meandering | | | | spun the candy threads upwards with a fork. He |
| through the country fair's exhibits. Let's not forget | | | | unveiled his machine at Ringley Brothers circus, and |
| nights sent on the carnival's Ferris wheel, cotton candy | | | | found that he too, had a hit on his hands. Cotton candy |
| in one hand while the other grips the car's bar for dear | | | | and the circus have been synonymous ever since. |
| life. | | | | Lastly, Joseph Lascaux received his patent much later |
| Cotton candy goes back a long way, though, from its | | | | than the other three, in 1921. A dentist in New Orleans, |
| appearance at fairs and carnivals. It wasn't the light, | | | | Louisiana, he introduced the sweet treat to his patients. |
| airy, wispy stuff we know today, but spun sugar was | | | | (Perhaps the most ingenious way to ensure his |
| all the rage in the days of knights and their fair | | | | business would continue?) While his machine also used |
| damsels. Since sugar was rare and expensive, it was | | | | centrifugal force and electricity, it's what's in the name |
| a treat reserved only for the very rich, so few folks | | | | that counts. His patent was for a "cotton candy" |
| ever got to experience it. Medieval cooks first spun | | | | producing device. New Orleans citizens claim Lascaux |
| sugar on forks to create webs and strands to | | | | "invented" the name "cotton candy," the name that |
| decorate cakes and other sweets. Confectioners | | | | stuck in the United States. Perhaps the old dentist was |
| would make castles and dragons and fairy tale | | | | onto something, after all. |
| creatures from it to the delight of the rich and famous | | | | In 1949, the "modern" cotton candy machine came into |
| of the day. Lords and ladies would marvel over the | | | | being, with a patent granted to Gold Medal Products. It |
| spun sugar creations, while the lowly servants could | | | | had a spring loaded base, and was much more |
| only look on with longing. | | | | dependable. Most cotton candy makers today are |
| Later, cookbooks shared the techniques involved in | | | | mere improvements of the Gold Medal machine. |
| spinning sugar. Most involved swirling a fork into the | | | | Around 1950, cotton candy went upscale. The |
| sticky cooked sugary syrup and drawing it out at just | | | | prestigious Four Seasons Hotel in New York City |
| the right time to create the right thickness of sugar | | | | added it to their menu for special occasion dinners like |
| thread. These threads were then spun or wound | | | | birthdays and anniversaries. The Manhattan version of |
| around an upturned bowl. In the eighteenth and early | | | | the sweet sticky treat is served in a martini glass, and |
| nineteenth centuries, spun sugar was again the rage in | | | | can come color coordinated to the guest. Other fancy |
| Europe, with confectioners creating sugar Easter eggs | | | | eateries around the country, inspired by Four Seasons, |
| and covering other candies such as chocolate in | | | | no doubt, also offer cotton candy on their dessert |
| intricate webs of spun sugar. This was pretty much | | | | menus, too. |
| how cotton candy (called spun sugar) existed until the | | | | Sometime in the 1970's cotton candy became |
| late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. | | | | mass-produced with the advent of a machine that |
| No one can really say for sure who "invented" cotton | | | | melts the sugar, spins it into floss and bags it. Now, |
| candy as we know it today. Four separate individuals - | | | | cotton candy can be purchased in nearly every |
| Thomas Patton, Josef Delarose Lascaux, John C. | | | | grocery store, without a circus tent or carnival midway |
| Wharton, and William Morrison - all had a hand in it, it | | | | in sight. |
| would seem. | | | | New Orleans may lay claim to the name cotton candy, |
| In 1899, John Wharton and William Morrison were | | | | but in other countries, the confection goes by other |
| granted a patent for a machine that melted and spun | | | | names. In Australia, it is still known as fairy floss, the |
| the sugar. The pair of Nashville, TN candy makers then | | | | name given it way back in 1904 at the World's Fair. |
| got really creative. They introduced their "fairy floss" | | | | Great Britain's children call it candy floss. In France, it is |
| and its electronic maker at the Louisiana Purchase | | | | Barbe a papa, meaning "Papa's beard." In India and |
| Exhibition, otherwise known as the St. Louis World's | | | | Greece, you ask for a treat of "old lady's hair." |
| Fair, in 1904, and the tradition of cotton candy and fairs | | | | Whether you ask for spun sugar, cotton candy, fairy |
| was born. They sold nearly 69,000 boxes of the stuff | | | | floss or old lady's hair, the simple sweet treat of |
| at 25 cents each. It was one of the Fair's most | | | | melted sugar, with a bit of food coloring added in, is till |
| expensive treats, earning the two men over $17,000, | | | | as popular today as it was way back in the days of |
| nearly half a million dollars in today's world. | | | | lords and ladies. Loyal customers can even purchase |
| A year after Wharton and Morrison received their | | | | their own "residential" cotton candy machines, ensuring |
| machine's patent, William Patton was awarded his own | | | | that the sticky goodness can be enjoyed year round |
| patent for a different candy floss machine. While | | | | at home. And you don't need a circus tent, a martini |
| Morrison and Wharton used centrifugal force to spin | | | | glass or even a fork to do so! |
| the melted sugar through small holes to form the | | | | |