Cotton candy, savory and sweet

[twodogs]

how do you make cotton candy?

do you need the special machine?

is there an inexpensive but functional alternative--not making large amounts so the equivalent of an easy bake oven would work.

is there only one kind of sugar to be used?

can and how do you flavor it?

can you make it savory?

please help

cheers

[Wendy DeBord]

I'm not an expert on this but I'll pass on what little I've seen on this topic.

Yes, you need the right sugar and the right machine. I don't know how they flavor it, but my guess is it's done to the sugar before spinning it. They sell a small machine for this to kids. Look in the toy departments-that might give you some ideas.

I don't know how sugar could be savory, you'll still have the sugar base.

[kthull]

My kids got one of those crappy little toy cotton candy makers. It works better with superfine sugar and I don't see any opportunity to flavor it afterwards, so as Wendy mentioned, it would need to be flavored beforehand.

Savory cotton candy? Interesting. I'd imagine any flavor-infused superfine sugar might work, though you'd probably need to run your flavored sugar in a processor to break up any small clumps that might have been incorporated in the flavoring process. The toy does work with regular sugar, but it has a lower yield and there's more build up around the sides/middle.

[aprilmei]

I made it once when we were catering a big party - I grabbed first "dibs" on the cotton candy station. We hired a machine that heats the sugar - the centre part of the machine spins really fast and flings the sugar in fine stands around the bowl. It is SO MUCH FUN to do - at least it was for a few hours (I wouldn't want to do it as a profession). Many of the guests kept coming up and asking if they could do it themselves - they didn't want to eat the cotton candy, they just wanted to make it. It's very messy though - my hair and clothes were sticky with sugar.

We bought the sugar from the same company we hired the machine from - it was pre-flavoured. Not sure how you could flavour it afterwards except with something dry - any liquid flavouring would melt the sugar stands because they're so delicate. I also can't see how it could be savoury; as Sinclair points out, it would still have the sugar base.

[peanutgirl]

To make anything more than a toothpick full of cotton candy, you will need a fullsize cotton candy machine. The toy ones won't cut it... although they are the most inexpensive way to go. Good commercial machines can cost upwards of a thousand dollars.

The sugar is either pre-flavored, or you can buy different flavors/coloring to mix into regular granulated sugar. It's a dry powdery sort of thing. One brand that comes to mind is Flossine.

My kids also received a cheap cotton candy machine last Christmas. Once they tired of white candy, I tried leftover colored sugar used for cookie decorating. It seemed to work well at first, but eventually gummed up the machine.

[elyse]

I imagine you could flavor the sugar as you would, you know, flavor sugar. How many times have we been told to put our vanilla beans into the sugar bowl? Just add whatever herbs or spices to the sugar and see what happens. I'm thinking dried sageand chilis might work nicely. I'm blanking on everything else.

[Skwerl]

I bought a Gold Medal EconoFloss model of professional cotton candy machine a few years ago. I think it was only $500-550 and does a wonderful job. You do not have to use special floss sugars in the machine, but using anything else will cause the heating element ribbon to carbonize more quickly. Floss sugar is dirt cheap if you take the time to bargain-hunt. You can flavor your own, but again, you risk carbonizing the ribbon more quickly. You also have to be very careful of what you use to flavor it, as some things will make the machine smoke and the cotton candy will have a burnt flavor. It's a touchy thing to get the element at the right temperature to melt the sugar properly but not burn it when you add your own flavors. I've found it is best to just go with the preflavored sugars unless you don't mind replacing the ribbon after experimenting. A word of advice: Generally professional cotton candy machines are NOT for use inside a household. When I first got mine, I was so excited that I opened the boxes and started making it right in the kitchen. Within ten minutes, my cabinets were covered with green sugar and the smoke alarms were going off from all the tiny (microscopic) sugar particles in the air. If you are planning on using this in a non-restaurant environment, be sure you purchase a bubble top for the machine or make some sort of enclosure or you will have quite a mess. If you are interested, I will go find out where I bought my machine and floss sugar. If you want to try an alternative, albeit a more complicated one, you can make spun sugar. It's not soft like cotton candy, but you can achieve a similar gossamer effect for plating desserts. You can search the internet for specifics on how to do it, but you basically just boil sugar to the right temperature and dip a couple forks or a whisk with the bottoms of the loops cut off into the stuff and fling it around. You'll end up with a mass of sugar "hairs" that you can shape into whatever you like.

Josh Usovsky

[yslee]

Today at the farmer's market I bought some cotton candy made with maple sugar. The woman who made it said she'd mixed in a little white sugar to keep it from gumming up her machine (an ex-fairground model) but that it was primarily maple sugar. It was pretty great - and I normally don't like cotton candy.

[Michael Laiskonis]

Just when I thought cotton candy was on the outs, one of my six dessert courses (sixteen in total) at WD-50 was a tiny bowl of ginger flavored cotton candy. The coolest thing about the flavor was that it didn't hit you right away but slowly crept up as the sugar dissolved in the mouth. Regrettably, by the end of that particular night, I had succumbed to such sensory overload that I didn't even think to ask Sam how he had done it...

[twodogs]

give him a call and ask him

also, what about a discourse on your meal, perhaps in an appropriate forum

cheers

cotton candy is not out, it is just misunderstood

can you make cotton candy in a paco jet with flavored caramels and the like or at least an interesting verion of spun sugar?

Edited December 24, 2003 by twodogs (log)

[elyse]

Just when I thought cotton candy was on the outs, one of my six dessert courses (sixteen in total) at WD-50 was a tiny bowl of ginger flavored cotton candy. The coolest thing about the flavor was that it didn't hit you right away but slowly crept up as the sugar dissolved in the mouth. Regrettably, by the end of that particular night, I had succumbed to such sensory overload that I didn't even think to ask Sam how he had done it...

Can you do a version of this for next year's demos at the IH/MRS?

Please call him to find out! It sounds wonderful.

[Louisa Chu]

One of our newer desserts at ADPA is topped with a small mound of barbe a papa - cotton candy - pale pink, barely rose-flavoured. The sugar's flavoured with a few drops of rose essence.

The amazing Amoretti people gave us a huge box of samples of their flavourings when I was in Vegas this past summer - I'm bringing it in to our pastry chef after vacation to experiment with.

twodogs, how would you Pacojet caramels to get spun sugar?

[Jay Francis]

Whatever you do, don't try to run Jello or any gelatin product through your cotton candy machine.

[nightscotsman]

Whatever you do, don't try to run Jello or any gelatin product through your cotton candy machine.

I have to ask - is this the Voice of Experience?

[twodogs]

if solid caramel is shaved in the paco jet a fine light spun sugar should be the result, though i have yet to test. still in the concept phase

cheers

[twodogs]

winters weight has been lifted, my rival cotton candy machine arrived. the experiments begin, yesterday brought peppermint cotton candy flavored with food grade essential oils. speaking of which, i am looking for a source for whole sale food grade oils--any suggestions.

furthermore any suggestions, thoughts, ideas, flavors, concepts about cotton candy are appreciated.

cheers

[nicolekaplan]

i also have the rival machine and for $30 i love it. but like it's been said before, it only makes a small amount and it takes some time, so vip's yes. but for any volume no way. as far as sugars go, there are a million places to buy preflavored sugars on the web, just google or ebay. they are really cheap $3-4 bucks for a huge amount. there are also flavor bases you can buy to mix with regular sugar and that is much cheaper. but for the rival and any home vesion you need to stick with superfine or floss sugar or you will kill it immeadiately. as far as flavoring you can mix some flavor with your sugar and let it dry a bit, but things like herbs are very difficult and will burn, smoke, set off your fire alarm etc. how about microwave drying the finely chopped herbs and then sprinkling them on top of the freshly spun sugar, that way you get flavor and garnish. as for professional grade oils try boyajian (dairyland) but limited flavors or lorann (check out the post on lollipops further down the page) they have all the crazy flavors. you can play with anything but gut instinct is best. just remember if it has a low smoke point it will not likely work.

[nicolekaplan]

one last thought

this one regarding the pacojet

if you try the caramel thing i'm sure we would all love to hear about it, but i would do it late at night when no one is around so your boss won't get really pissed if the paco breaks. in fact you might want to call them and see what they think before you try it as they are very fragile creatures afterall.

[twodogs]

just did some flavoring with powders on plain cotton candy: yuzu, soy, and mushroom mimics nobu's black cod miso; yoghurt powder and mango powder make a cloud like lassi

with regards to the paco; i am the boss and it is my baby hence the investment in the rival rather than the russian roulet with the paco

cheers

[Jamesbchef]

Just wondering about flavoring cotton candy. Is there anything other than than the obvious? Seems to be some cool stuff done by Sam Mason, Adria, etc.

[BryanZ]

There's a powder you can buy that's essentially flavorless and has similar melting characteristics to standard granulated sugar. Someone who knows a bit more than I do will come up with the exact name. Using a cotton candy machine you can flavor accordingly, be it savory or sweet.

[aidensnd2]

Bump.

Anyone?? I'd be interested in knowing this. I've been tempted to try flavoring regular sugar but I just can't imagine it working that good.

[alanamoana]

i did a quick search and couldn't find a neutral base. most of the sugars made for cotton candy machines are already flavored. that doesn't mean it doesn't exist, just harder to find. do a google search for "sugar floss" or something like that.

edited to add:

How to Make Cotton Candy Cotton candy is one of those amazing foods that seems like magic until you know the secret. There is no way to produce cotton candy without special equipment (cotton candy machine), but if you have the equipment, it is incredibly easy!

Cotton candy is nothing but pure granulated sugar and flossine (flossine is the color and flavor only) or (ready to use) floss sugar that contains the sugar, color and flavor already premixed for you. To make the sugar "cottony" it goes through the following process:

    * Heat from the cotton candy machine head melts the sugar and turn it into a liquid.

    * A set of very small holes in the floss head lets the liquid sugar flow through to form threads of sugar.

    * The cotton candy machine spinning head slings the liquid sugar outward so it is forced through the holes and the contton candy machine bowl.

The head contains the heater to melt the sugar and make it liquid. Then, by spinning the head, the cotton candy machine forces the liquid sugar out through tiny holes in the head. The instant the thin threads of sugar hit the air, they cool and re-solidify, so in the bowl of the machine a web of sugar threads

from this site. if that's the case, then you might be able to use isomalt which is neutral flavored (or at least not as inherently sweet as sugar) and flavor it accordingly.

Edited August 14, 2006 by alanamoana (log)

[scott123]

Isomalt is about 60% as sweet as sugar, so it may not work for savory applications.

Polydextrose produces most of the textural qualities of sugar and is only 10% as sweet. Getting it to work in a machine, though, could get tricky.

[nicolekaplan]

superfine sugar works fairly well, just keep the machine really clean