Cotton Candy

Put 3/4 pound loaf sugar in a small copper kettle; add sufficient cold water to cover half of the sugar and stir until it is melted; then place the kettle over a strong fire and boil the sugar to a crack (the 6th grade); add a few drops of vinegar, remove the kettle, dip it for a few minutes into cold water and let it cool off a little; if the sugar is spun when too hot the threads will be too thin and lumps will form; then place the kettle in a pan of hot water, or on the side of the stove, to keep the sugar warm; take a large knife in the left hand and hold it out straight before you; take a silver spoon in the right hand, dip it into the sugar without touching the bottom of the kettle and let some of the sugar run off the spoon; then spin long threads back and forth over the knife from right to left; after a considerable amount of sugar is spun in this way take it from the knife, lay on clean paper and spin the rest in like manner; when all is spun form the sugar into pom-poms, garlands, bouquets, etc.

Half the sugar may be colored with cochineal to a delicate pink. The sugar should be spun in a place free from drafts and in clear and dry weather. The sugar is used for decorating and trimming dishes.

Recipe from Who Put the Devil in Deviled Eggs? by Ann Treistman/Skyhorse Publishing, 2011.