When it comes to cotton candy, I'm a fan. So whether at an amusement park, a fair, a sporting event, you're bound to see me manhandling my way through a big pink or blue ball of fluffy and puffy goodness. Whenever I thought about what cotton candy tasted like, all I could say was that it tasted like cotton candy. I didn't think there was much else to it until I found out about a company called Tasty Clouds.
Tasty Clouds is a gourmet cotton candy company founded by Nina Rodecker, who was born in the Philippines. Her company was inspired by "LIHI" (lee-Hee), a Filipino term for "pregnancy craving". When Nina was pregnant, her main craving was cotton candy, but not just cotton candy that you can pick up from the store, but fresh cotton candy. So she actually picked up a cotton candy machine and started creating her own recipes. From there, Tasty Clouds was born and along with that came some unique cotton candy flavors.
Wanting to experience this gourmet cotton candy for myself, I set up a cotton candy tasting for my dining group, Pleasure Palate.When we arrived, we were greeted by Nina and she gave us a quick run down on how cotton candy is made.
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Basically, cotton candy is made from sugar and in this case, Nina has developed flavored sugar crystals. The sugar is poured into an electric heating element at the base of a funnel-shaped dish and melted.
Then the machine rapidly rotates and in the process, that sugar syrup is flung through the tiny holes in the funnel using centrifugal force. The outer bowl caught the threads as they cooled.
The final product was fine and fluffy and ready to eat. Originally, it was referred to as "fairy floss". The name "cotton candy" didn't actually become popular until the 1920s. A rose by any other name is still pretty darn good cotton candy and Tasty Clouds is a wonderful description of what Nina's cotton candy was like.
We tried a variety of flavors and as you can see below, everyone was enjoying their fluffy, puffy treat. Traditional flavors we sampled included their True Blue and Pretty in Pink. However, we also got to try Apple Verde, Wild Watermelon, Lima Lime and their Banana Cadabra. The Apple Verde actually reminded me of a Jolly Rancher.
Nina will also create custom flavors. Some of which she talks about in the video below.
The sky's almost the limit when it comes the variety of flavors that can be created. In fact, I asked Nina if she could come up a Filipino-inspired flavor and she countered with a calamansi cotton candy which she sent to me at a later date to try. I definitely tasted the sweet-sour-tart flavors of the calamansi and even my Mom gave the calamansi cotton candy a thumbs up. Nina even included a bonus tub of strawberry-jalapeno cotton candy which I loved. The sweet and spicy duet of flavors was a wonderful kick to my palate.
Just this year, Nina even developed a new Filipino flavor in the form of Philippine mango which was a big hit at the Festival of Philippine Arts and Culture which is where it debuted.
Want to know some fun cotton candy facts?
- A normal serving of cotton candy (about 1 oz.) has approximately 26 grams of carbs, about 100 calories, not salt and no fat.
- One serving contains less sugar than a can of soda.
- National Cotton Candy Day is celebrated on December 7.
Do you want to try Tasty Clouds Cotton Candy for yourself? You can visit the Tasty Clouds Showroom location or order their products online. Just click the website links below to get more information.
Tasty Clouds
12325 Santa Monica Boulevard.
Los Angeles, CA 90025
310-990-2435
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