Not a single holiday: a trip to the park with parents or just a weekend stroll would be complete without this treat. Cotton candy has been loved by everyone since childhood. It’s a pleasure to simply watch how it is wound with jewelry on a stick in the machine.
In fact, devices began to be used much later than sweets were invented. Of course, not all housewives know how to make cotton candy at home.
You need to eat the treat right away, everyone knows how quickly it melts and turns into a hard lump.
The sweetness will only come from bulk sugar; lump sugar or substitutes will not work.
Preparing cotton wool is a sticky business; it is better to cover the kitchen in advance from splashes and sweet drops.
You will have to work with hot syrup; it can easily get burned, so you should be careful.
In fact, the base for cotton candy is a blank for making cockerels or lollipops. Therefore, you can make sweets from the leftover syrup.
How to make cotton candy
How to cook:
- Use pliers to bite off the top of the corolla. Trim evenly to the same level. It is better to use a cheap whisk from the “Everything for 40 rubles” stores.
- Cover the entire table space with newspaper or parchment. Better yet, lay it under the table as well. There will be a lot of splashes. Place straws or sticks on the table and place the mixer. Everything should be at hand.
- Insert the straw or stick into the mixer and make sure it doesn't fly out when spinning. Turn on idle. If necessary, seal it in the groove with paper.
- Combine sugar, water and corn syrup (honey) in a small saucepan.
- Heat the mixture over low heat, stirring constantly until all the sugar has dissolved. Don't let it boil. At the first sign of boiling, remove from heat and continue stirring.
- Once the sugar has all dissolved, increase the heat slightly. Let the mixture boil and cook without stirring for 6-8 minutes until golden brown. Any stirring at this stage causes the formation of crystals.
- When the syrup has turned golden amber, remove it from the stove and place it on a heatproof trivet on the table. Be careful not to let the syrup darken on the stove. The color will darken for some time even after you remove the syrup from the stove. Let the homemade cotton candy syrup cool for 5-7 minutes.
- Check for string of sugar Once the mixture has cooled slightly, dip the cut whisk into the syrup and lift. If there are threads coming from the whisk, the cotton candy making process is going well. If drops drip quickly, it means that the mixture should be allowed to cool further.
- The fun part Now turn on the mixer at minimum speed. Make sure the straw doesn't fall out. Dip the whisk into the syrup and place it above the rotating straw at a height of 30 cm. Move the whisk slightly so that the syrup strings cross the straw.
- There will be a lot of splashing! Repeat dipping the whisk and twisting the syrup onto the straw until a lump with a diameter of 5-6 cm has grown on it. Homemade cotton candy is ready!
- Warning! The sugar syrup is very hot, so making cotton candy is for adults only. If children want to watch, keep them no closer than two meters from the table.
Some recommendations
It’s easy to see that you can make cotton candy at home without special equipment, you just need the desire and a couple of basic supplies. By the way, many lovers of this dessert who prepare it at home offer beginners some tips:
“For example, I never get rid of excess syrup. You need to make the most of all the ingredients, so you can make lollipops out of it. By the way, they turn out very tasty! Very reminiscent of childhood..."
“My syrup was very loose at first, so I couldn’t make cotton wool. Then I read somewhere that you just need to press it, so to speak, with your fingers. The problem went away, cotton wool began to turn out, I’m very pleased! By the way, the method itself is very simple, the cotton wool obtained is no worse than that which is made on all sorts of newfangled devices. I recommend!"
Homemade cotton candy
These candies cannot be stored for a long time because the syrup will fall off. Serve immediately. If you need to prepare treats ahead of time, place the jars of prepared candy in a large container and cover with plastic wrap. They will keep for an hour at room temperature.
Clue
: Never put candy in the refrigerator. At low temperatures, sugar syrup becomes fluid and loses its crystalline form.
Enjoy your meal!
Source
Do-it-yourself cotton candy making machine
We present to you the drawings of a homemade machine for making cotton candy
(“Feshmak”) and the technology of its preparation. You won't need much time to make it. Feshmak is a caramel-type product, popularly called “cotton candy”, usually in the form of a bundle of elongated thin white threads. One kilogram of sugar produces up to 80 servings of the finished product.
The simplest design for preparing feshmak at home with a capacity of approximately 160 servings per hour consists of a 220 V electric motor with a power of 50 to 300 W with a rotor speed of 1250 - 1500 rpm and a disk made of sheet aluminum with a diameter of 170 - 180 mm and a thickness attached to its shaft 0.2 - 0.3 mm.
To make a disk, you can use tin from a herring can. At a distance of 350 - 400 mm from the center of the disk, a fence made of plastic, linoleum, etc. is installed. If you seriously decide to start making a feshmak, we recommend using the design shown in Fig. 1. For its manufacture it is necessary to use materials specified by GOST for the food industry. Drawings of a machine for producing cotton candy
Rice. 1 Basic drawing of the device:
1- electric motor; 2 - working disk; 3 - container made of material recommended by GOST; 4 - bushing; 5 — stand on wheels (4 pcs.)
Rice. 2 Apparatus for making cotton candy “feshmaka”:
1 - electric motor; 2 - power cord; 3 — disk fastening bolt; 4 - the resulting layer of cotton candy.
Note.
The design of the device we propose reflects only the basic principle of the production of “cotton candy”; it is elementary and easy to manufacture. If you wish, you can improve the device yourself by mechanizing some of the manual labor.
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Method of making cotton candy.
First you need to prepare the caramel mass. It is prepared without making molasses, which simplifies the cooking process. The mass is not candied due to the formation of invert sugar under the influence of vinegar essence added in the middle of cooking. So, granulated sugar is dissolved in a small amount of water (about 3 parts sand to 1 part water) and boiled for 10 minutes, after which vinegar essence is added (3 ml of essence per 1 kg of sugar) and the mass is boiled again for 10 - 12 minutes. After this, the mass is heated over very low heat for 25 - 30 minutes. until a strong caramel sample is obtained with a moisture content of 1.5 - 1.7%. Humidity is determined by the boiling point of the mass. At the beginning of boiling it should be 100 - 105?, and at the end - 135 - 145?. Without allowing it to cool, pour the finished mixture in a thin stream onto the edge of the rotating disk (2 - 4 mm from the edge). To do this, it is convenient to use a small enamel ladle. Hot syrup, breaking into thousands of thin threads, hardens at room temperature, forming a layer of “cotton wool”.
With high ambient humidity, it is impossible to obtain a high-quality product. In this case, you can close the device with a lid with a hole for pouring caramel mass. Turn off the electric motor and separate the threads from the body. Cut the finished product along the diameter line and roll the resulting semicircle into a tube on the table. Do the same with the second semicircle. Then cut the cotton wool into the required number of servings. The product should have a white color and a pleasant sweet taste. When using food coloring, the product takes on a more attractive appearance. To maintain the high quality of the “cotton wool”, it is necessary to clean the disk from adhering syrup after each working cycle. Feshmak cannot be stored outdoors for a long time - this is its significant drawback. Sealed packaging and refrigeration will keep it for a day or more. Do not despair if you are not satisfied with the quality of the product the first time. The main condition for success is the accuracy of each operation.
Cotton candy for the holiday: the pros and cons of a popular delicacy
If you are going to serve a delicacy at a children's party, it would be a good idea to mention the benefits and harms it causes.
Pros of cotton candy:
- Unusuality. In Russia, this delicacy is still found mainly at public holidays. Serve it at a house party and you are guaranteed success.
- Availability. Now that you know how to make cotton candy at home without a machine, preparing it won’t be difficult. A packet of sugar will be enough for dozens, or even hundreds of servings. Agree, it’s cheaper than buying expensive sweets or chocolates, which are even more harmful to the body.
- Purity. Wrappers, mugs, wrappers - at the end of the party you will have to collect all this from different parts of the apartment. Cotton wool is practically waste-free. Wrap it around a patterned skewer or chopstick, and your child will put it in the sink or on a plate when he or she has eaten the whole dessert.
Cons of cotton candy
- High carbohydrate content (almost 95%), which is considered a source of “empty” calories.
- High content of dyes in the color variations of the dessert.
- Marking and stickiness. If a child accidentally drops a piece of cotton wool on the carpet and lets it melt a little, it will be difficult to clean the surface.
Comparison of models
A special comparison table will help you compare the previously described models according to the main technical parameters that play a big role in the process of use.
| Model name | Dimensions (mm) | Bowl diameter (mm) | Structure weight (kg) | Power, kWt) | Cost (rubles) |
| ECOLUN 1653044 | 520x520x510 | 520 | 10 | 0.9 | 8 500 – 10 000 |
| GASTRORAG WY-MF03 | 520x520x415 | 520 | 12 | 1 | 10 000 – 14 000 |
| HURAKAN HKN-C3 | 730x730x500 | 730 | 15 | 0.9 | 10 000 – 12 500 |
| ENIGMA CC-7E | 670x520x1100 | 650 | 18 | 0.9 | 15 000 – 18 000 |
| AIRHOT CF-1 | 520x520x500 | 520 | 13 | 0.9 | 9 000 – 10 500 |
| ET-MF-05 | 960x520x910 | 520 | 10 | 1.03 | 19 000 – 22 000 |
| SS-88E | 120x850x60 | 420 | 40 | 0.9 | 25 000 – 30 000 |
Calorie content of cotton candy
Doctors scare those with a sweet tooth about caries and a spoiled figure. However, making cotton candy with your own hands at home will not cause any particular harm to your health. To make a standard serving of dessert, only 2 teaspoons of sugar are spent, whereas we drink more every day with tea alone.
Those who are closely watching their figure should not be afraid of delicacies. The average nutritional value of the product per 100 g is:
- Proteins – 1.1 g.
- Fats – 4.13 g.
- Carbohydrates – 94, 77 g.
- The calorie content of the product is 444 kcal.
A standard serving weighs 14 grams, so it contains only 62 calories. Therefore, if you are not going to eat only cotton candy for months, there will be no particular harm to your figure.
Fruit cotton wool
Exotic lovers can make fruit cotton wool at home. Of course, it will be a little more difficult, but it is quite possible. To do this you need to do the following:
- Take some water (about two hundred ml), sugar (at least 600 grams), half a teaspoon of vinegar and the food additives that have been selected.
- You need to make sugar syrup in advance in the same way as described earlier. Then mix it well with flavoring additives. For example, you can buy any syrup in almost any hypermarket. Raspberry, apple, vanilla.
- The assortment is varied and everyone can choose according to their taste. So, such a “tasty” component needs to be added to the resulting syrup, and then the mixture should be cooked again over low heat.
- Further steps depend on how you prepare the dessert. If using a machine, pour the syrup into it. If you use improvised means, then start reeling.
