3 Great Truths Cotton Candy Taught Me About Life
For a few weeks every year, for the last ten years, I’ve been whipping up cotton candy. That amounts to thousands upon thousands of buckets, bags, and sticks and well over a ton or so of sugar. It’s a fun job, especially when you see the smiles light up on the faces of children and lovey-dovey couples, or even the elderly person reminiscing on their childhood.
Of course, despite its frivolity, making cotton candy — or fairy floss as I like to call it — can also be tough. There are certain knacks to be learned, and, like any trade, practice makes perfect. But if you really love doing something, you’ll persevere! And now, after years of spinning sugar for eager eyes, I’ve come to learn three great truths. These are just as important in making fairy floss as they are in living your best life.
Prepare Your Place Before You Start
The French call it mise en place, which loosely translates to ‘putting in place’. It is a culinary term, essentially meaning to prepare your workplace so as to not waste time.
In the profession of making fairy floss, it is important to have your space set out. Especially if you are running two or three machines by yourself. This means having the sugar buckets filled and ready, the empty bags set in the right place, the sealer turned on and positioned, and a few cardboard boxes ready to be filled.
The last thing you want to happen is being stuck with a lack of bags and having to turn off your machines so you can scout them out. As with any other activity in your life, it’s important to be prepared and ready before you start, or else you’ll just be facing hiccups throughout the day.
And don’t be afraid to take your time when setting yourself up, either. I don’t mean to waste time, but just don’t rush. Be sure you are ready, all in a calm state rather than in a frantic one.
Sometimes It’s Better To Turn It Up
A fairy floss machine needs to be heated at the right temperature. If it’s too cool, the fairy floss will flail around the bowl and refuse to stick to the bowl. And if it’s too hot, the fairy floss will become heavy, essentially edging closer to the texture of toffee.
As with life, if it’s too hot, turn it down. Sometimes it is better to turn it off and step outside for a breather, but you can easily balance by turning it down to make it easier to work with. So, if your fairy floss is flinging around and not working the way you want it, usually the best option is to turn it up.
This metaphor can also be translated to life’s everyday conundrums. Sometimes it does get hard; sometimes it feels like we’re failing and the usual response is to switch off. It’s not working, so why bother suffering? But I implore you to do the opposite!
Turn it up, keep at it, and push yourself a little bit harder. You’d be surprised what a little more heat will do to your flailing fairy floss. It may just in fact work that little bit better.
Water Is The Elixir of Happiness
Making fairy floss is fun, but it’s a very messy job. It’s hard to ignore this as the day goes on, with more and more sugar particles ending up in every nook, cranny and crevice.
One may think “how in the hell am I gonna clean this?” And the answer is water. Preferably hot water, but any water will do. Anecdotal evidence tends to support that hot water is better to consume than cold, but so long as you’re using water, the troubles of sticky sugar dissolves effortlessly away.
The same can be said for ourselves when it comes to water. We need water to survive, and we also need it thrive. Water helps clear away our bodily toxins just as good as it clears away sugary countertops.
And you specifically need a good dose of water when making fairy floss. The heat generated from those machines warms up and dries out the space you’re making it in. And it’s important to keep the air flow in this space as minimal as possible, as fairy floss thrives in a hot dry environment.
If the air is moisturous, the floss becomes sticky, making it harder to handle. So whenever you’re driving along and feeling hot, in any sense of the word, douse yourself with water.
But most of all, have fun!
