Cotton candy (U.S.) or candyfloss (UK, Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa) or fairy floss (Australia) is a form of spun sugar. Since it is mostly air, servings are large. Cotton candy is often served at fairgrounds or circuses. Food coloring is used to change the natural white color. A typical serving on a stick is at least one ounce and contains about 100 to 115 calories. It is sometimes sold in bags containing several servings.
A similar confectionery is the Persian Pashmak, and the Turkish Pişmaniye, although the latter is made with flour in addition to sugar.
Cotton candy was first recorded around Mid-18th Century. At that time, spun sugar was an expensive, labor-intensive endeavor and was not generally available to the average person. Machine-spun cotton candy was invented in 1897 by William Morrison and John C. Wharton and first introduced to a wide audience at the 1904 World's Fair as "Fairy Floss" with great success, selling 68,655 boxes at the then-high $0.25, half the cost of admission to the fair. Fairy floss was renamed to "cotton candy" in the 1920s.
Tootsie Roll of Canada Ltd. has a bagged product called Fluffy Stuff that it claims was introduced at the 1893 World's Fair. The United States celebrates National Cotton Candy Day on December 7. The machine used to make cotton candy consists of a small bowl, into which sugar is poured and food coloring is added. The sugar reserve bowl is spun at high speed while heaters near the rim melt the sugar, which is squeezed out through tiny holes by centrifugal force. The molten sugar then solidifies in the air and is caught in a large metal bowl surrounding the central sugar reservoir bowl. The operator of the machine twirls a stick, cone, or their hands around the rim of the large catching bowl, gathering the sugar strands into portions. Modern cotton candy machines work in much the same way as older ones.
Sticky and sweet, it dissolves quickly in the mouth (due to its amorphous nature) although it feels like wool to the touch. It does not have much of an aroma although the machine itself has a cooked sugar smell when in operation. It is soft and fluffy when dry. When it comes in contact with moisture, it becomes sticky and damp. Because the sugar is hygroscopic, and has a very large surface area, it will become coarser, harder and generally less "flossy" once exposed to the atmosphere.