How to Make Cotton Candy – Jelly Belly Cotton Candy Machine

First off, I think that North America should formally recognize cotton candy the way the Australians do- Fairy Floss- from now on.  How much more fun is that name?!?!  It sounds so sweet.

As a child, I spent my time at the fair watching the cotton candy man “stir” the cotton candy to make beautiful puffy clouds of blue and pink.  It kept my attention for a whole 30 seconds or so, which is quite good considering all the distractions on the fair grounds.  Every year at the end of August, my parents would take us to the PNE  (Pacific National Exhibition) which is a 17 day fair in Vancouver, BC.  It has rides, exhibits, show homes, trade shows, and of course, FAIR FOOD!  Obviously, being who I am, the food was my favourite part.

Unfortunately for me, no one paid me money to make this video.  I was hanging out in my favourite store (Target) and saw the box for the Jelly Belly Cotton Candy Maker.  I knew that I had to figure out how to make cotton candy at home.  I followed the enclosed directions, which were easy to follow, put the machine together, and started right away.  I feel that this machine is great for people of all ages!  *The inner core get quite hot, so kids should definitely be supervised while using the machine.*

My machine came with 6 cotton candy cones as a “bonus” but what would have also been nice would have been the inclusion of the sugars. I tried making cotton candy with granulated sugar, and it worked, so perhaps that is why flavoured sugar isn’t included in the machine package, but who wants to make white cotton candy??  I purchased an additional pack (Jelly Belly Cotton Candy Making Kit) of 2 different flavoured sugars (blue/pink) and more cones for another $20.  If you are a died hard cotton candy fan, this would be a great investment, but if you are looking to make cotton candy for the masses, you probably want a machine that is larger and faster.  It takes 5 minutes for the machine to heat up, another 1-2 minutes for the sugar to start to floss once added, and another 1-2 minutes to collect the spun sugar onto the cone.

Once the sugar is spinning, rolling the cone along the flossing ring can take some getting used to, but as long as you are moving the cone and “catching” the floss, there is not really a right/wrong way to do it.  Stay away from the centre core though, as it’s heat will melt your spun candy, and it will also slice into your neatly piled floss!  All in all I think this is a great, fun machine!   If you’d like to see more machine reviews, let me know in the comment section!