10 facts about cotton candy

1. The sweet treat we know as cotton candy today was once called "fairy floss." In fact, it is still commonly called fairly floss in some parts of the world, including Australia. It's also known as "candy floss" in Great Britain and other parts of the world.
2. Who created cotton candy? No one knows for sure. There are historical records of spun sugar, basically cotton candy, going back to the 1400s in Italy, but more commonly modern cotton candy is thought to have come about in the 18th and 19th centuries.
3. So, who created cotton candy? Argh! There's no definitive answer. But in 1897 was invented machine-spun cotton candy. The creators of that were John C. Wharton and William Morrison. The two patented their cotton candy machine in 1899 and introduced it at the World's Fair in St. Louis in 1904.
4. BUT: In 1900, a fellow by the name of Joseph Patton received a patent for his own cotton candy invention. The argument could go on over who created cotton candy. Let's just say it's been around for a while.
5. The Tootsie Roll company makes a brand of cotton candy called Fluffy Stuff. The company claims its Fluffy Stuff is the oldest cotton candy treat, having been introduced in 1893 at the World's Fair in Chicago and with historical links going back to Italy in the 1400s.
6. A Persian treat known as Pashmak looks and tastes much like cotton candy. It's even made in a somewhat similar manner as cotton candy, but unlike cotton candy which is made almost entirely only of sugar, Pashmak also includes cinnamon.
7. December 7 is National Cotton Candy day in the United States.
8. The term "cotton candy" did not become common use in the English language until the 1920s.
9. Modern cotton-candy-making machinery was created in 1949 by the Gold Medal Products company.
10. The Turkish treat pismaniye looks somewhat like cotton candy, but it's not. It is made of pulled sugar, but flour and butter and sometimes nuts and fruits are mixed with it.