Spun Sugar

Hardened boiled sugar that forms fine strands for decorating desserts. It is made by slowly boiling sugar, water and cream of tarter to a hard-crack stage. The fine threads are created by dipping a fork or whisk into the sugar syrup and lifting the hairlike strands out and placing them directly on a dessert or on a waxed paper-lined surface. If placed on a waxed paper the strands will harden and can then be transferred later by sprinkling or arranging them on top of a dessert. A common form of very fine strands of spun sugar is cotton candy, which is made in a machine specially designed for that purpose.