«Don't eat sweets, they're bad for your teeth», – dentists usually warn sternly. But not James Morrison. The American dentist was also a talented confectioner. And it was he who invented the cotton candy machine.
More than a dentist
One might think this was his cunning plan – the more bad teeth, the more clients. But in reality James had no such thoughts, and even the very idea of a wonder-machine that would easily and quickly turn ordinary sugar into a magical sweet did not originally come from his head.
Morrison was approached by the confectioner John Wharton, who decided to put cotton candy production into mass production. Why him? It's simple: Morrison already had experience as an inventor. He had figured out how to make margarine from cottonseed oil and developed an innovative method of water purification. Which meant he could quite likely manage a confectionery machine as well.
And he succeeded. The device was very simple to use. Sugar was poured into a spinning vessel, the «pot» was heated over a gas burner, and the melted sugar came out in thin threads through tiny holes. These were wound onto a wooden stick.
The dessert was called «Fairy Floss», or «magic silk thread». At first the sweet ball was white, then dyes began to be added to the mass.
But the machine rattled, overheated and was very cumbersome. The friends kept trying to improve something.
And another dentist – Joseph Lascaux – managed to do this once Morrison's patent had expired. It was Lascaux who began calling the fluffy sweet «cotton candy».
In different countries, however, these «sugar clouds» are named in their own way. In America, for example, the sweet is sometimes called «cotton candy», in Italy it is called «sugar yarn», in Germany – «sugar wool», and in Israel – even «old lady's hair». It doesn't sound very appetizing, but that doesn't stop even adult locals from enjoying the treat and returning to childhood for a couple of minutes.
The evolution of cotton candy
Today the cotton candy machine is no longer a wonder of wonders. A compact electric device for making cotton candy can be bought even for the home, and you can throw a little celebration every single day.
You just need to pour the ingredients into the special opening of the portable mini-machine, press a button and wind the resulting fibers onto sticks. There are machines that make floss not only from sugar but also, for example, from hard candies.
And creative confectioners have gone further. For them the fluffy cloud is a material for creativity. They make floss in the shape of bears, bunnies and other little animals. The ball is given its shape with the help of water. And some craftsmen turn floss into real cakes.
But don't forget that cotton candy is practically pure sugar, a fast carbohydrate. And you shouldn't overindulge in this treat.
Unlike Morrison, modern dentists are categorically against sweets. But if breaking the ban can't be avoided, doctors advise brushing your teeth right after the dessert, or at least rinsing your mouth.
By the way
The first cotton candy appeared about 500 years ago. Back then, Italian bakeries cooked thick sugar syrup and wound its threads onto special forks. This, of course, was not airy floss but rather such lacy balls. But the process was no easy matter, and sugar was not cheap, which is why far from everyone could afford the treat.
And for a full 300 years the «ancestor» of cotton candy was available only to the Spanish elite, wealthy tourists and high-ranking guests.
Venetians played with the magic threads in various ways: they created figures of birds from them, decorated Easter eggs, wove dishes and even tablecloths.
And in 2009, 70 Turkish craftsmen made the longest cotton candy in the world. The dessert was almost a kilometer and a half long and weighed 300 kilograms.
