Candy canes and after-dinner mints are
common examples of such confections. An
opaque but satin-or silk-like sheen results
when the cooled but malleable syrup is
repeatedly pulled and folded back onto itself.
This working incorporates some air bubbles,
and these in turn encourage the formation of
tiny sucrose crystals. Both bubbles and
crystals interrupt the candy structure, giving it
a crisp, light quality and making it easier to
break between the teeth. (See “Sugar Work”
below.)
Cotton Candy Cotton candy or candy floss is a
very different kind of hard candy, filaments of
sugar glass so fine that they have the
consistency of a cotton ball and dissolve away
the moment they touch the moist mouth.
Cotton candy is made in a special machine
that melts the sugar and forces it through tiny
spinnerets into the air, where it instantly
solidifies into threads. It was introduced at the