Hand-Pulled Cotton Candy

I love cotton candy! Every time I go to the fair, I always get a big bag of cotton candy and finish it in less than an hour. I love cotton candy so much that when I was younger, I used to always put a cotton candy machine on my Christmas list. However, instead of buying a bulky machine, you can make cotton candy with your hands! This awesome recipe for hand-pulled cotton candy is based off of a Persian recipe called pashmak. It is tons of fun to make and tastes delicious!

Recipe (adapted from tastemade):

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
• Optional: food coloring and extracts
• Cornstarch

Steps:

• In a saucepan, combine all ingredients and heat on medium-high. The mixture needs to heat slowly for about 20-25 minutes, until it reaches 269°F, so monitor your heat to adjust as needed. As the mixture is heating, rinse the sides of the pot down using a brush dipped in water. This helps keep the sugar from sticking to the sides of the pot and forming sugar crystals.

• Once it reaches temperature, immediately remove the saucepan from the burner and allow to cool to at least 212°F. Transfer to a greased, glass container to cool until it turns into a slightly firm (but still squishy) disk.

• Place cornstarch on a baking tray or large bowl.

• Take the candy out of the greased container by flipping the container upside down. Coat generously in cornstarch and begin forming a donut shape, rotating the disc, and using your hands to stretch it, making sure all sides are even.

• Once the ring is about 1 foot wide, twist into a figure 8 shape and continue stretching and making a uniform ring. Be sure to constantly dust with cornstarch to prevent sticking.

• Continue the process if the strands are still pliable.

• Once your cotton candy has reached your desired texture, use your hands to break off small sections of the candy and wrap around a stick or place in a bowl. Enjoy!

Now it’s time for the science behind hand-pulled cotton candy:

When we cook the sugar, its molecules gain more heat and energy, and they begin to move more rapidly and the sugar becomes a liquid. However, as we twist and pull the sugar strands, they begin to cool and lose energy, causing the strands of sugar to turn back into a solid. Additionally, there is some math involved in the process of pulling cotton candy. Since the number of strands that are created every time the cotton candy is twisted in a figure eight doubles, the number of strands is represented by the equation y=2^x, with x being the number of times the sugar has been twisted and y being the total number of strands created. Therefore, if we twist the sugar strands 12 times, we will have 2^12 strands of sugar, or 4096 strands of sugar.