Cotton Candy

Cotton Candy - If you've ever been to a carnival, circus, amusement park, fair or any other type of large outdoor event with vendors selling a variety of trinkets, you've most likely had the chance to sample an odd yet delicious candy known as cotton candy also called candy floss or candy cotton. Your parents probably made sure you didn't eat too much cotton candy though, right? And then proceeded to tell you stories about how cotton candy will give you cavities so horrific your teeth would eventually fall out? Well, maybe not quite that horrible, though I did once overhear a mother telling her son that about cotton candy.

In truth, cotton candy isn't nearly so horrible as many make it sound. Sure, cotton candy is almost purely sugar, but there isn't enough in cotton candy to make your teeth instantly form cavities. Unless, of course, you eat cotton candy multiple times a day and several times a week.

Cotton candy doesn't contain all that much sugar - merely as much sugar as one would get drinking a can of an average soft drink. In fact, in a normal serving of cotton candy (about a 1 oz. cone) there are only about 100 calories - compared to anywhere from 130-170 calories in a can of non-diet soft drink.

This fluffy and delightful candy is a novelty to children as well as adults. The process by which cotton candy is made has been around for over 100 years so chances are you could ask your grandparents about their first encounter with cotton candy and they'll tell you at great length how much it cost and how neat it was back in the day.

It was forgotten for a while several decades ago, but cotton candy became an instant hit when suddenly it was mass produced and became readily accessible to everyone - not just the ones going to a fair or circus.

For many, the smell and scent are unforgettable - often times it makes one feel a bit nostalgic. Fond memories are linked with it - days of happy and carefree youth, begging your parents to take you on the Ferris wheel, and don't forget meeting your spouse at the fair grounds! Now maybe you don't have all these memories - yours might be more recent; asking your parents to let you ride on a pony, your mother fretting that you're getting your hands and face all sticky because you can't quite get the entire mass of candy into your mouth (no matter how hard you try and turn it this way and that, it simply won't work), and of course, discovering that once you get even the tiniest bit of saliva onto the cotton strands, it turns into a very sticky mess and quickly loses the cotton like appearance.

Curious to know more? Read onwards and discover all there is to know!