For cotton candy, you stick the cone into the maker and move it in a circle around the heater, fairly quickly. This is why your final product is so small and you have a sugar ring. Most of your sugar is getting spun into the sides of the lid.
I could be wrong, but I'm not convinced the sugar ring had anything to do with his technique, I would think it was just sugar that wasn't quite the right temperature that got flung out. Especially being that it's a cheap consumer level machine.
@@staceyotten5312 I have a home machine like this and you are supposed to go in a circular pattern, rotating the cone while circling. You actually can comfortably fit the top part of the cone a bit down, despite how it looks in the video. Not fully down into the crevice (your candy “cloud” will eventually grow too voluminous to fit). I’ve used crushed lollipops, Jolly Ranchers, hard candies of all kinds and I got equally as good of results as I did using granulated sugar.
I worked at the Orange county fair one summer when I turned 17. I worked at the cotton candy stand along with my future husband and future two brothers-in-law. That sugar for the cotton candy gets EVERYWHERE. You sneeze, it's cotton candy. You scratch your head, it's cotton candy. You take off your shoes after work, it's cotton candy. My brother-in-law still can't get anywhere near the stuff.
@@tamiajackson you would think it would be great. No. No, it doesn't help. I recently ran a small stand with a smaller cotton candy machine that had a cover on it. It was still EVERYWHERE. I'm not sure the cover did much good.
Good review. I have always found the trick to this is to let the sugar strands build up in the dome and insert the cone vertically into the dome and roll the cone along the inside. Also, any hard candies, or even regular sugar flavored or not, can be used just grind them fine before you use them. You have to try maple sugar which makes great cotton candy. Enjoy!
@@dj-kq4fz Anybody who knows it's spelled "pestle" knows what they meant by "pessel", and if you typed that into Google it would correct it anyway. So let me rephrase: anybody with basic Google-fu would still be able to find out what they meant without the quibbling over spelling.
i have used this machine for years, one thing to note, that for hard candies like jolly ranchers, i found what workd best is to grind the candy in a food processor until it is about the same consistency as sugar then mix in the jolly rancher powder in with sugar until it is a light color of the candy and incorporated, also that ring that you get around the rim after every new flaver i scrape that stuff off and put in a baggy so that i can crunch it up and reuse it
This is why they should have an "As Seen on TV Rental Store". Because this is something you buy once, have an absolute blast for an afternoon with the neices and nephews, total candy rage on a rainy day in as they craft confections from what appears to be thin air.... but then never use again. Really we could all just buy one and then pass it around because that's the only amount of this machine that probably a whole community would really need. I really think if there was a "Rent Some Tat" store, I would be in and out of there pretty often. Because I love tat and novelties, but the impracticality being the thing that I love is also the thing that means I can't just have a bunch of stuff I never use. I don't have the square footage for it to sit around for ten years. but I can absolutely see myself having a blowout rager with the kiddos with this
I bought one of these 3 or 4 years ago and love it. I wanted root beer cotton candy. There was a learning curve for me but in a few times use i was making small cones. I made cones with hard candy, dad's root beer barrels. After a couple tries I bought a small mortar and pestal thiings worked out. I still love it.
Stick with the "Flossine" (cotton candy premix) It's not quite full sugar, but has the taste and properties to make the 'web' come out pretty easy. When I used to work for Chuck E working with the 'Gold Medal' cotton candy machine the clean up wasn't that bad.
I've played around with this machine at a friend's house and had a ton of fun with it. The quality and consistency of the cotton candy varies wildly depending on the types of candy you use and it's fun to experiment to figure out what works and what doesn't. We had the most success using generic lollipops to make our cotton candy, but we also had a lot of success with hard butterscotch candies and even cinnamon candies (which I would highly recommend btw. 10/10 cotton candy flavors). It all really depends on the form of sugar used and the ratio of sugar to flavor components. As long as the candy is mostly made of sugar and it has similar enough properties, it'll work just as well. Basically jolly ranchers are the worst test of this machine, but most lollipops and old-fashioned grandma candies are amazing
My daughter who loved cotton candy had a similar one about 15 years ago, we only used hard candy as I don’t remember the one we bought offering the flavored sugar. She only used it a handful of times but it did work well and we never broke up the candy.
Pretty sure the reason why the Jolly Rancher's didnt work is because of the relatively low surface area compared to the sugar granules. Granules make for more even meltage and the spinning creates the webs that makes your little strings, the ranchers probably had clumped making the webbing process harder.
Ranchers* Just because a word ends in an "s" doesn't mean you add an apostrophe. 😛 It's a plural, not a possessive. Plurals don't use apostrophes. Not trying to be an ass, just trying to help out.
You put the stick/cone almost vertical between the heater and the wall and move in a circle and twist the stick/cone at the same time for best sesult. If you doo it from the top. The already formed "webb" can be sucked into the heater again. That's why he has burned marks inside the heater. You can do it from the top, but that is a difficult method to master 😉
I love mine!!!! I use hard candy most of the time but have used the actual candy flossing sugar. If it gets too hot the sugar gets burnt and the texture changes and doesn't flow like soft string more like hard sugar rope
I was the technician for ShowBiz Pizza (AKA Chuck E Cheese) many years ago, I had to maintain the machine and of course used it in the process. Some people would just let the bowl fill up with cotton candy then use the cone (ours were paper of course) to dip it out then twirl it around the stick. We often also had it in bags (no cone) and they did the same but no twirling around the cone just dip t out and drop in bag.
I saw people putting the whole candy, uncrushed in the middle using the same machine. It tuned out great, I think you should re-try making jolly ranchers cotton candy.
We either had this or something very similar to this when I was a kid and when he said instructions said to crush up the hard candies my first thought was "I'm pretty sure we put them in whole". Definitely agree with the butterscotch ones though, we used those the most.
I love this machine. It's easy to use & easy to clean. Just use hot water. I got it for christmas & had no hard candy except candy canes. They worked great. The secret is to pre-warm the machine. Although we prefer the sugar, we love worthers hard carmels. We also save the sugar ring for a treat later.
Don't put your cone inside the plastic ring, its dangerous. Paper cones could catch fire its so hot. The sugar is very hot & could burn you. The plastic cones that came with the machine can melt & cause burns or you could catch it on the spinning part which could cause damage to the machine & you. If you hold it just above the opening you can catch the sugar safely.
The King of Random did several with cotton candy, and showed the best methods, and products to use. They had some fails, and other success. I highly recommend watching it for ideas of what else you can use beside the sugar they sell for the machine.
As I recall, they had the best luck with hard candy that had a high sugar to corn syrup ratio. Jolly ranchers are definitely not the best choice for this.
I came here to say the same thing, their videos are definitely a good option for anyone looking to try out making cotton candy themselves. As a sidenote, I miss those days of TKOR. Things really took a turn and lost my interest when they started bringing in new hosts and I stopped watching around the time they got rid of Calli. Nate's solo channel has been quite entertaining since he was also released, though, at least.
@@R0D3R1CKV10L3NC3 I thought Grace was great as a sidekick. As the main host, not so much. Calli was able to switch between the host and sidekick position well.
@@AustynSN yeah, honestly it wasn't necessarily the new hosts themselves that I didn't enjoy, I just feel like their joining coincided with a change in direction that I just didn't jive with.
Thanks for the demo. Cotton Candy’s my favourite ♥️ Since you’re working with, more less, straight sugar, clean up will be easy. Dissolves in water.(very damp cloth).🍁🇨🇦
When I served at my church during a community event I helped to make cotton candy and OMG....I have to admit there is an art to it...My shirt was covered in cotton candy strings at the end of it 😂 The "cotton" was everywhere and that machine needed constant care. Fun, but definitely a skill to perfect. 😂
My grandmother brought one for my nieces years go. It works great, but my grandmother found out something thing with candy. I wonder how it's would work overall in a big setting like a party or a family event. Maybe use on a food truck.
I have a similar "cheap" cotton candy machine and we use jolly ranchers almost exclusively. Do NOT crush them beforehand. Put them in whole. Do NOT put two in at once even though it balances the machine. They do make great cotton candy when you get your technique correct. "yarning" is what I call it when it's not going correctly, because it looks like it's just wrapping the thing in yarn rather than poofy cotton candy. It eats up the candy at an alarming rate. Anyway, THE best tasting cotton candy so far is mango jolly rancher from the tropical pack.
The best cotton candy I've ever had in my life, consistently every year, is the classic pink at the State Fair of Texas. The store bought stuff just doesn't compare. Same for salt water taffy, in the classic white vanilla. Makes me salivate a little just thinking about it! 😅
Oh yeah, fresh salt water taffy is so good. I'm originally from Utah and while I was in Iraq people would send random care packages to soldiers. I remember one care package I got made me so incredibly happy. The packages are passed out at random and I just happened to get one that had a big bag of Salt Lake salt water taffy. Really made my day.
I have the same cotton candy machine here at home, I got it for my girls birthday party & for hard candy/jolly ranchers like I used I found it works best by 1st putting all the jolly ranchers of one color in the blender sitting to the side & continue w/ each color, each time setting them aside & simply use the provided scoop.
I couldn’t get jolly ranchers to work but had other hard candies work fine. Generic hard disc candies are perfect. I have never used the sugars. Actually I didn’t know they existed til now. I have had mine for years. My kids love it.
Thanks for the video, my wife wanted one years ago for our daughters birthday. She got really good with it and it was a hit at the party and then it got put on a shelf and never used again because do you really want to feed people pure sugar. We didn’t but it was fun for the one time.
I used to have a similar machine. The jolly rancher will definitely work...you just didn't grind it down enough, a hammer wouldn't cut it. It's gotta be closer to a powder...I REALLY wanna see you grind it up more and try the hard candy again...if I can do you do definitely can.
My sister's family had a cotton candy machine, it was less impressive looking than this, but operated similarly (because the scale doesn't have a huge effect, beyond convenience and how much you can make at once). As others have mentioned, one should either crush the hard candies more finely, or just not bother. We just used whole Jolly Ranchers and it worked fine (not quite as well as proper cotton candy sugar, the results were more dense). It's good for a bit of fun, and a tasty treat.
LOL, It is only a small spoonful of sugar and it melts in your mouth. I've never seen anyone eat cc like that ever. We used to tear pieces off. Sure made me want some!
Saw a show years ago where an expert said to wait til it's done, then pull it out and put it on the cone. They said never to put anything in the machine, because that just causes the candy to be denser. Of course like most things, impatience won out and everyone does it this way now.
I used one some years ago. It’s cool, but also a bit concerning with how insanely hot it gets. It smells like the motor is burning or something is if you run it for more than a few minutes. Have fun but be careful where you use it and where you have it plugged in to.
This brought back memories of county fairs, local fairs, circuses, and carnivals. What fun! I really enjoyed this video. Happy Easter, Good Friday and whatever you celebrate. 🐇🐰 🥚🥰🥂🥂
You should hold the cone vertically in the area between the spinner and the wall, then twirl it as you move it around the circle. This will catch the cotton candy as it spins out and you should get more on the cone.
Aren't you supposed to put the stick inside around the circle and move it around? Maybe it would come out a little easier for ya. But you did a great job!!! Thank you for the review. 😊
I love watching your reviews. I started watching them a couple of years ago and I just love it. I actually purchased a meat thermometer or cooking thermometer that you have. If I’m going to buy something, I’m gonna watch your video first if possible
Hello James, I really shouldn't watch something like this at midnight (UK time) that just looks fun....and I want some....now!! 😁 Thanks for the demo, as always....at least you're always thorough. 👏👏 Penny from Christchurch. 🇬🇧
We have one we bought at a Goodwill. Works like a dream! My 70 yr old mom made us some awhile back for the first time. We still make some for my son's birthdays.
I have one of these. The best hard candy I could find for it was from the dollar tree. Coastal Bay. Jolly ranchers didn't work for me either. I think whatever keeps them from melting also keeps them from making good cotton candy.
Mines was second hand for 5 dollars and it worked so well. I heard it was messy so I tried it outside but either way it was fine. I used tropical jolly rancher powder by blend and I tried the hard candy and it worked super well
When I’ve seen cotton candy being made they don’t stay over the heat unit but go around the whole edges in a circular motion, that why it’s going all over the sealing . Next time try just going all around the the edges not just over the heating unit. I love your channel and never miss one of your videos, especially like the ones with your son.👏🏼👍🏻❤️👵🏻
I tried breaking the hard candy and leaving them whole. seems about the same to me. whole pieces seem to have better strands. Tried butterscotch and it just taste's like burnt butter lol. Havent tried the flavored sugar yet. My favorite hard candy to use are the white mints.
Oh lordi that machine... We were helping at a Charity Event years, ago and drew straw for Cotton Candy I have never touched stuff since the smell is enough. We sold 600 portions it was relentless. The machine held up tho. Bonus was Charity made good amount and heck Cotton Candy took in most
I have one of these, and use it with sugar free hard candies. (I'm diabetic.) The absolute best flavor I've ever gotten was when I used Werther's hard candies. I do have some of the difficulties he did in the video, but since sugar is out for me, well....
You need to grind up the hard candy so it's the same constantly as the floss powder. Usually you let the floss spin out and build up on the side and then roll it onto the cone. I use to rent and repair cotton candy machines. The cotton candy that you're making looks like it is a good constantly.
The hard candy must be pulverized into a dust. Put the candy into the freezer and let it freeze hard. If you have chunks, freeze some more. Then add to the machine. If you're using a plastic bag, make sure it's a freezer bag and it's cold also. It took us multiple times to get it right. The Jolly Rancher lemon and peach are the best.
I did have one of these, though I think mine was defective, the central bowl was very lopsided and you had to hold the machine in place while you were using it or it would vibrate right off the counter or table though it did make fairly good cotton candy, though I only used the sugar that was made for it or regular cotton candy floss. I have watched a few other videos where people have used this machine and haven't seen anybody else have to hold it down to use it, so I'm pretty sure my was messed up somehow. That brown staining, burnt sugar, is kind of a pain to get off, if its not too bad it will usually soak off but after a while or a few times it seems to be there for good. But I agree with you, its not a bad machine really, just wish mine had worked right.
You probably should not have used jolly ranchers. They are a sticky candy by nature. You should have used a regular hard candy and crushed fine. I think you would have had a better result. I will never buy one but this was fun 😁
Try pulverizing the hard candy into a fine powder. Almost any good electric chopper should do the trick. It may still be a bad result but having the same basic texture as the cotton candy mix should in theory give better results.
James White is like a golden retriever, dude has the strangest amount of "I haven't tried this before, even though I should have with my numerous traveling" moments; such as, not knowing how to put the stick vertically in the cotton candy machine like how every single person has done it when they go to a carnival, and the numerous times he travelled to Hawaii and made a video not too long ago that it was first time eating a haupia (coconut) pie at McDonald's. C'mon Man!
That looks delicious! I haven't had cotton candy in years. I worked at cotton candy stand year's ago and it was really fun. I felt like I was getting paid to have fun😊. About the hard candies I have no clue unless you make it powdery. Great session and enjoy your cotton candy.
I have this machine. There's definitely a trick to gathering the floss. And yes, it sends strings of cotton candy into the air. The faster you get at collecting though, the less it happens. I've used jolly ranchers with success, but I used 2 candies and I didn't break them up. Can you get the Old Fashioned brand of hard caandies? Try it with the root beer flavored ones.
Jolly Ranchers are different than most hard candies. There is something in them that makes them really hard to bite and let them stay in your mouth for like, ten minutes. You should definitely try this with a normal, crunchable hard candy like Life Savers. I'm sure crushing them up better would help, too.
That was fun to watch!!! It would be fun to have this machine when all my niece and nephews would be around. They would have a blast!!! Thanks for the video, James!!!
I love mine, have a movie theater popcorn maker too. Have yet to figure out if the grands or my girlfriends like them best. We have a girls night in at my house once a month. They always want popcorn and cotton candy lol.
many years ago i worked at a carnival like event and i got tasked with making the cotton candy. first few tries weren't pretty but i finally got the hang of it
I ran the cotton candy machine at a church carnival one year. By the end of the evening, I had cotton candy in my hair, on the back of my clothes, on the inside of my glasses, even in my bra. Took two showers to get all the sugar off me. You'll maybe want torun the machine outside to avoid sugar on your ceiling.🤣
I have this and love it Jolly ranchers are to high in corn syrup making the product more like glade don’t melt correctly must be real sugar and words great my favorite is to use hard peppermints and lemon hard candy
The statement of hard candy as an option seems like they saw that TKOR series using someone else's cotton candy machine when Nate and Calli were hosts and thought to themselves, _Hey! That seems neat, let's promote that!_
I sent a few of these to my children and grandchildren for christmas and was glad to see how it works before they send me the videos from the holidays.
I'm so glad you did this one. I love the idea (and cotton candy 😜👍) and the results weren't too bad at all with the sugar, but I didn't like hearing that it could/would have those flighty bits of airborne sugar flying around 😬. Darn. I immediately that about it needing somewhat of a cover, to retain/contain that issue, though that would have to be rather large and cumbersome-ish, in essence and that's where main brain stops, lol, I dunno-but I thought it was a really great idea to review. I'd be one to get it and find out it's only drawback-the HARD way. Thanks! 😄
But sometimes of one scoop it goes up to there and sometimes I need like 6 when I first bought it because I couldn't figure it out but most of time once you to be just sit there for a little will fill it up
I've got one of these, don't use Jolly Ranchers. They have a different consistency with their sugar that forms something sticky. Use something like the cinnamon hard candy, Butterscotch, or Peppermints. They have better use. Classic Warheads works too. If the candy is normally a sort of sticky candy in your mouth like Jolly Rancher, don't ever use it.
LOL that’s what happened when I got my niece one a few years ago. My sister was screaming IT’S FLYINGALL AROUND THE KITCHEN LOL it was really good though 😊
Hey, I own one of these! The secret with the jolly ranchers is DON'T crush it. Put 2 in whole, one on each side of the spinner. Works perfectly every time.
The raw flavored sugar is called floss, back in the early 80's when the carnival came to town I worked the food carts every year, I'd wrap cotton candy and fry corn dogs all day long, the machine is way too small to do the spin and wrap.
I've seen people making cotton candy at fairs and they pour the sugar into the middle while it's spinning and then it starts forming. You should try orange tic tacs.
wooden sticks are easier to use, and go into the side as it starts. Be careful not to hold the candy you already have on the stick over the heat. Great reviews.
The King of Random (TKOR) has several old videos talking about what can and cannot be turned into Cotton Candy. They tried several different candies over the years and figured out which type of sugar works best. They found out anything with natural sugars and corn syrup worked best. If it had Dextrose, it didn't turn into the fluffy fibers, instead slinging melted sugar out of their machine.
For cotton candy, you stick the cone into the maker and move it in a circle around the heater, fairly quickly. This is why your final product is so small and you have a sugar ring. Most of your sugar is getting spun into the sides of the lid.
Maybe he hasn't watched it being made at the fair/carnival/circus! To most of us it's a familiar sight.
I could be wrong, but I'm not convinced the sugar ring had anything to do with his technique, I would think it was just sugar that wasn't quite the right temperature that got flung out. Especially being that it's a cheap consumer level machine.
@@BriBCG it has that ring around the heater for you to stick it down there and go in circles
Not enough room in the small machine to go around the heater. Also, you use more sugar in the regular size machines.
@@staceyotten5312 I have a home machine like this and you are supposed to go in a circular pattern, rotating the cone while circling. You actually can comfortably fit the top part of the cone a bit down, despite how it looks in the video. Not fully down into the crevice (your candy “cloud” will eventually grow too voluminous to fit). I’ve used crushed lollipops, Jolly Ranchers, hard candies of all kinds and I got equally as good of results as I did using granulated sugar.
I worked at the Orange county fair one summer when I turned 17. I worked at the cotton candy stand along with my future husband and future two brothers-in-law. That sugar for the cotton candy gets EVERYWHERE. You sneeze, it's cotton candy. You scratch your head, it's cotton candy. You take off your shoes after work, it's cotton candy. My brother-in-law still can't get anywhere near the stuff.
This is the best, and helpful :-)
Does a cover help ?
@@tamiajackson you would think it would be great. No. No, it doesn't help. I recently ran a small stand with a smaller cotton candy machine that had a cover on it. It was still EVERYWHERE. I'm not sure the cover did much good.
Good review. I have always found the trick to this is to let the sugar strands build up in the dome and insert the cone vertically into the dome and roll the cone along the inside. Also, any hard candies, or even regular sugar flavored or not, can be used just grind them fine before you use them. You have to try maple sugar which makes great cotton candy. Enjoy!
Oh, now you got me wanting one. I have 5 lbs of granulated maple.
For the hard candy use a mortar and pessel to really make a consistent powder ^^
Mortar and pestle.
@@JulianaBlewett Everybody knows what they meant.
A very fine consistancy of powder.
@@kriscynical Not everybody
@@dj-kq4fz Anybody who knows it's spelled "pestle" knows what they meant by "pessel", and if you typed that into Google it would correct it anyway. So let me rephrase: anybody with basic Google-fu would still be able to find out what they meant without the quibbling over spelling.
For the hard candy you have to make sure it is made with actual sugar and not high fructose corn syrups that’ll make a huge difference
i have used this machine for years, one thing to note, that for hard candies like jolly ranchers, i found what workd best is to grind the candy in a food processor until it is about the same consistency as sugar then mix in the jolly rancher powder in with sugar until it is a light color of the candy and incorporated, also that ring that you get around the rim after every new flaver i scrape that stuff off and put in a baggy so that i can crunch it up and reuse it
True. Add some sugar and you will get better floss than jolly rancher alone. His example proves it
This is why they should have an "As Seen on TV Rental Store". Because this is something you buy once, have an absolute blast for an afternoon with the neices and nephews, total candy rage on a rainy day in as they craft confections from what appears to be thin air.... but then never use again. Really we could all just buy one and then pass it around because that's the only amount of this machine that probably a whole community would really need. I really think if there was a "Rent Some Tat" store, I would be in and out of there pretty often. Because I love tat and novelties, but the impracticality being the thing that I love is also the thing that means I can't just have a bunch of stuff I never use. I don't have the square footage for it to sit around for ten years.
but I can absolutely see myself having a blowout rager with the kiddos with this
I bought one of these 3 or 4 years ago and love it. I wanted root beer cotton candy. There was a learning curve for me but in a few times use i was making small cones. I made cones with hard candy, dad's root beer barrels. After a couple tries I bought a small mortar and pestal thiings worked out. I still love it.
I had one as a kid, (I'm 70 now) Mom got rid of it real fast. There was sugar all over the kitchen because it flies out and gets on everything :)
Part of the hard Candy issue is it needs to be glucose (sugar) based not fructose (ie corn syrup) based
Stick with the "Flossine" (cotton candy premix) It's not quite full sugar, but has the taste and properties to make the 'web' come out pretty easy.
When I used to work for Chuck E working with the 'Gold Medal' cotton candy machine the clean up wasn't that bad.
"Looks like something Walter White would carry around"- said by a man who looks like Walter White 😂
I've played around with this machine at a friend's house and had a ton of fun with it. The quality and consistency of the cotton candy varies wildly depending on the types of candy you use and it's fun to experiment to figure out what works and what doesn't. We had the most success using generic lollipops to make our cotton candy, but we also had a lot of success with hard butterscotch candies and even cinnamon candies (which I would highly recommend btw. 10/10 cotton candy flavors). It all really depends on the form of sugar used and the ratio of sugar to flavor components. As long as the candy is mostly made of sugar and it has similar enough properties, it'll work just as well. Basically jolly ranchers are the worst test of this machine, but most lollipops and old-fashioned grandma candies are amazing
My daughter who loved cotton candy had a similar one about 15 years ago, we only used hard candy as I don’t remember the one we bought offering the flavored sugar. She only used it a handful of times but it did work well and we never broke up the candy.
75 blenders in the closet and he used a hammer to crush the candy
Pretty sure the reason why the Jolly Rancher's didnt work is because of the relatively low surface area compared to the sugar granules. Granules make for more even meltage and the spinning creates the webs that makes your little strings, the ranchers probably had clumped making the webbing process harder.
Yeah like the hard suger on a stick for Irish coffee. But a "bon bon"
Ranchers* Just because a word ends in an "s" doesn't mean you add an apostrophe. 😛 It's a plural, not a possessive. Plurals don't use apostrophes. Not trying to be an ass, just trying to help out.
@@englishatheart auto correct got to it and I didn't notice.
You put the stick/cone almost vertical between the heater and the wall and move in a circle and twist the stick/cone at the same time for best sesult.
If you doo it from the top. The already formed "webb" can be sucked into the heater again. That's why he has burned marks inside the heater.
You can do it from the top, but that is a difficult method to master 😉
I love mine!!!! I use hard candy most of the time but have used the actual candy flossing sugar. If it gets too hot the sugar gets burnt and the texture changes and doesn't flow like soft string more like hard sugar rope
I was the technician for ShowBiz Pizza (AKA Chuck E Cheese) many years ago, I had to maintain the machine and of course used it in the process. Some people would just let the bowl fill up with cotton candy then use the cone (ours were paper of course) to dip it out then twirl it around the stick. We often also had it in bags (no cone) and they did the same but no twirling around the cone just dip t out and drop in bag.
I saw people putting the whole candy, uncrushed in the middle using the same machine. It tuned out great, I think you should re-try making jolly ranchers cotton candy.
Really? I would have thought the problem was just the opposite, the candy not being ground down enough.
@@floyd2386 Yea, I saw a seller try it and it came out perfect, without any small chunks.
Also, FWIW: I had better luck with whole Jolly Ranchers rather than crushing them up. One thing to try that I enjoyed...butterscotch candies!
That sounds super delicious!
Agreed. I've had great success with whole candies. Just make sure they're balanced in the centrifuge, (I use 4-5)
We either had this or something very similar to this when I was a kid and when he said instructions said to crush up the hard candies my first thought was "I'm pretty sure we put them in whole". Definitely agree with the butterscotch ones though, we used those the most.
Root beer barrels are also pretty amazing. Starlight mints are super strong flavored as well.
@@Caymon8 that's a good point. Defo at least two for balance. But 4/5 for bigger batch!
I love this machine. It's easy to use & easy to clean. Just use hot water. I got it for christmas & had no hard candy except candy canes. They worked great. The secret is to pre-warm the machine. Although we prefer the sugar, we love worthers hard carmels. We also save the sugar ring for a treat later.
Don't put your cone inside the plastic ring, its dangerous. Paper cones could catch fire its so hot. The sugar is very hot & could burn you. The plastic cones that came with the machine can melt & cause burns or you could catch it on the spinning part which could cause damage to the machine & you. If you hold it just above the opening you can catch the sugar safely.
The King of Random did several with cotton candy, and showed the best methods, and products to use. They had some fails, and other success. I highly recommend watching it for ideas of what else you can use beside the sugar they sell for the machine.
As I recall, they had the best luck with hard candy that had a high sugar to corn syrup ratio. Jolly ranchers are definitely not the best choice for this.
Definitely. I'll note that other youtubers have done similar videos, for those looking for even more ideas.
I came here to say the same thing, their videos are definitely a good option for anyone looking to try out making cotton candy themselves.
As a sidenote, I miss those days of TKOR. Things really took a turn and lost my interest when they started bringing in new hosts and I stopped watching around the time they got rid of Calli. Nate's solo channel has been quite entertaining since he was also released, though, at least.
@@R0D3R1CKV10L3NC3 I thought Grace was great as a sidekick. As the main host, not so much. Calli was able to switch between the host and sidekick position well.
@@AustynSN yeah, honestly it wasn't necessarily the new hosts themselves that I didn't enjoy, I just feel like their joining coincided with a change in direction that I just didn't jive with.
Thanks for the demo. Cotton Candy’s my favourite ♥️ Since you’re working with, more less, straight sugar, clean up will be easy. Dissolves in water.(very damp cloth).🍁🇨🇦
turn it off to pour the sugar? interesting, with almost all machines for cotton candy, you pour the scoop in as it spins
When I served at my church during a community event I helped to make cotton candy and OMG....I have to admit there is an art to it...My shirt was covered in cotton candy strings at the end of it 😂 The "cotton" was everywhere and that machine needed constant care. Fun, but definitely a skill to perfect. 😂
I used to run the cotton candy machine for all PTA events for my son's school. It really is an art 🙂
My grandmother brought one for my nieces years go. It works great, but my grandmother found out something thing with candy.
I wonder how it's would work overall in a big setting like a party or a family event. Maybe use on a food truck.
Hahaha he bit into the cotton candy like it was a turkey leg 😂
I have a similar "cheap" cotton candy machine and we use jolly ranchers almost exclusively. Do NOT crush them beforehand. Put them in whole. Do NOT put two in at once even though it balances the machine. They do make great cotton candy when you get your technique correct. "yarning" is what I call it when it's not going correctly, because it looks like it's just wrapping the thing in yarn rather than poofy cotton candy. It eats up the candy at an alarming rate. Anyway, THE best tasting cotton candy so far is mango jolly rancher from the tropical pack.
Werther's originals hard candy test 👀 I have a feeling the issue with the hard candy is that it wasn't broken up enough.
Dude, you need to be rolling around the edge
@@bostonrailfan2427 that's what I said. Not across the top but around the edge
@@bostonrailfan2427 I own one. And the way he was doing it isn't how it's done.
The best cotton candy I've ever had in my life, consistently every year, is the classic pink at the State Fair of Texas. The store bought stuff just doesn't compare. Same for salt water taffy, in the classic white vanilla. Makes me salivate a little just thinking about it! 😅
Oh yeah, fresh salt water taffy is so good. I'm originally from Utah and while I was in Iraq people would send random care packages to soldiers. I remember one care package I got made me so incredibly happy. The packages are passed out at random and I just happened to get one that had a big bag of Salt Lake salt water taffy. Really made my day.
for me was, Colorado State Fair 83'
I have the same cotton candy machine here at home, I got it for my girls birthday party & for hard candy/jolly ranchers like I used I found it works best by 1st putting all the jolly ranchers of one color in the blender sitting to the side & continue w/ each color, each time setting them aside & simply use the provided scoop.
I couldn’t get jolly ranchers to work but had other hard candies work fine. Generic hard disc candies are perfect. I have never used the sugars. Actually I didn’t know they existed til now. I have had mine for years. My kids love it.
My fiance's mother had an older version of this! She made me some cotton candy wifh Werther's original caramels and it was delightful
Thanks for the video, my wife wanted one years ago for our daughters birthday. She got really good with it and it was a hit at the party and then it got put on a shelf and never used again because do you really want to feed people pure sugar. We didn’t but it was fun for the one time.
I used to have a similar machine. The jolly rancher will definitely work...you just didn't grind it down enough, a hammer wouldn't cut it.
It's gotta be closer to a powder...I REALLY wanna see you grind it up more and try the hard candy again...if I can do you do definitely can.
My sister's family had a cotton candy machine, it was less impressive looking than this, but operated similarly (because the scale doesn't have a huge effect, beyond convenience and how much you can make at once). As others have mentioned, one should either crush the hard candies more finely, or just not bother. We just used whole Jolly Ranchers and it worked fine (not quite as well as proper cotton candy sugar, the results were more dense).
It's good for a bit of fun, and a tasty treat.
You're supposed to go around the sides of a kind of candy maker not on top like a like a circles around the sides
I have never seen someone take that big of a bite of cotton candy. I thought for a second you were going to shove the whole thing at once. LOL
LOL, It is only a small spoonful of sugar and it melts in your mouth. I've never seen anyone eat cc like that ever. We used to tear pieces off. Sure made me want some!
😂😂😂
You need to crush the candy very fine. I had this many years ago and it worked great!
Saw a show years ago where an expert said to wait til it's done, then pull it out and put it on the cone. They said never to put anything in the machine, because that just causes the candy to be denser.
Of course like most things, impatience won out and everyone does it this way now.
I used one some years ago. It’s cool, but also a bit concerning with how insanely hot it gets. It smells like the motor is burning or something is if you run it for more than a few minutes. Have fun but be careful where you use it and where you have it plugged in to.
Hold the stick vertical and move it around in a circular pattern. Not Horizontal.
This brought back memories of county fairs, local fairs, circuses, and carnivals. What fun!
I really enjoyed this video. Happy Easter, Good Friday and whatever you celebrate. 🐇🐰
🥚🥰🥂🥂
You may want to try leaving the unit running as your pour the sugar in so it can't cool down as the sugar is added.
You should hold the cone vertically in the area between the spinner and the wall, then twirl it as you move it around the circle. This will catch the cotton candy as it spins out and you should get more on the cone.
Aren't you supposed to put the stick inside around the circle and move it around? Maybe it would come out a little easier for ya. But you did a great job!!! Thank you for the review. 😊
Yes. I've never done it, but I've watched it made a million times at fairs, and that's how they do it. Why isn't it in the instructions?
@@ferociousgumby I was wondering about the instructions too!!
I love watching your reviews. I started watching them a couple of years ago and I just love it. I actually purchased a meat thermometer or cooking thermometer that you have. If I’m going to buy something, I’m gonna watch your video first if possible
Hello James,
I really shouldn't watch something like this at midnight (UK time) that just looks fun....and I want some....now!! 😁
Thanks for the demo, as always....at least you're always thorough. 👏👏
Penny from Christchurch. 🇬🇧
Caroline from London UK. Great review
We have one we bought at a Goodwill. Works like a dream! My 70 yr old mom made us some awhile back for the first time. We still make some for my son's birthdays.
Willy Wonkas’ attic insulation 😂
I have one of these. The best hard candy I could find for it was from the dollar tree. Coastal Bay.
Jolly ranchers didn't work for me either. I think whatever keeps them from melting also keeps them from making good cotton candy.
Mines was second hand for 5 dollars and it worked so well. I heard it was messy so I tried it outside but either way it was fine. I used tropical jolly rancher powder by blend and I tried the hard candy and it worked super well
Great first attempt just to test it for us, thanks James! 😊
When I’ve seen cotton candy being made they don’t stay over the heat unit but go around the whole edges in a circular motion, that why it’s going all over the sealing . Next time try just going all around the the edges not just over the heating unit. I love your channel and never miss one of your videos, especially like the ones with your son.👏🏼👍🏻❤️👵🏻
I tried breaking the hard candy and leaving them whole. seems about the same to me. whole pieces seem to have better strands. Tried butterscotch and it just taste's like burnt butter lol. Havent tried the flavored sugar yet. My favorite hard candy to use are the white mints.
Oh lordi that machine... We were helping at a Charity Event years, ago and drew straw for Cotton Candy I have never touched stuff since the smell is enough.
We sold 600 portions it was relentless.
The machine held up tho.
Bonus was Charity made good amount and heck Cotton Candy took in most
I have one of these, and use it with sugar free hard candies. (I'm diabetic.) The absolute best flavor I've ever gotten was when I used Werther's hard candies.
I do have some of the difficulties he did in the video, but since sugar is out for me, well....
You need to grind up the hard candy so it's the same constantly as the floss powder. Usually you let the floss spin out and build up on the side and then roll it onto the cone. I use to rent and repair cotton candy machines. The cotton candy that you're making looks like it is a good constantly.
Dude, you've got the best tasting cobwebs of anyone I know!
IKR!
Now I want to see a comparison of cotton candy makers!
I think it's starting to smoke because it's getting too hot and it's starting to burn the sugars left behind in the spinner.
The hard candy must be pulverized into a dust. Put the candy into the freezer and let it freeze hard. If you have chunks, freeze some more. Then add to the machine.
If you're using a plastic bag, make sure it's a freezer bag and it's cold also.
It took us multiple times to get it right. The Jolly Rancher lemon and peach are the best.
Hold the cone vertically over the bowl and move counter-clockwise arount the bowl.
I wonder why this wasn't in the instructions.
I did have one of these, though I think mine was defective, the central bowl was very lopsided and you had to hold the machine in place while you were using it or it would vibrate right off the counter or table though it did make fairly good cotton candy, though I only used the sugar that was made for it or regular cotton candy floss. I have watched a few other videos where people have used this machine and haven't seen anybody else have to hold it down to use it, so I'm pretty sure my was messed up somehow. That brown staining, burnt sugar, is kind of a pain to get off, if its not too bad it will usually soak off but after a while or a few times it seems to be there for good. But I agree with you, its not a bad machine really, just wish mine had worked right.
You probably should not have used jolly ranchers. They are a sticky candy by nature. You should have used a regular hard candy and crushed fine. I think you would have had a better result.
I will never buy one but this was fun 😁
Try pulverizing the hard candy into a fine powder. Almost any good electric chopper should do the trick. It may still be a bad result but having the same basic texture as the cotton candy mix should in theory give better results.
James White is like a golden retriever, dude has the strangest amount of "I haven't tried this before, even though I should have with my numerous traveling" moments; such as, not knowing how to put the stick vertically in the cotton candy machine like how every single person has done it when they go to a carnival, and the numerous times he travelled to Hawaii and made a video not too long ago that it was first time eating a haupia (coconut) pie at McDonald's.
C'mon Man!
That looks delicious! I haven't had cotton candy in years. I worked at cotton candy stand year's ago and it was really fun. I felt like I was getting paid to have fun😊. About the hard candies I have no clue unless you make it powdery. Great session and enjoy your cotton candy.
I have this machine. There's definitely a trick to gathering the floss. And yes, it sends strings of cotton candy into the air. The faster you get at collecting though, the less it happens.
I've used jolly ranchers with success, but I used 2 candies and I didn't break them up. Can you get the Old Fashioned brand of hard caandies? Try it with the root beer flavored ones.
A tisket, a tasket ,James has a cotton candy basket! Happy Easter 🐣 everyone!
Wow, didnt know there was so many die hard cotton candy enthusiasts until I read the comments
Jolly Ranchers are different than most hard candies. There is something in them that makes them really hard to bite and let them stay in your mouth for like, ten minutes. You should definitely try this with a normal, crunchable hard candy like Life Savers. I'm sure crushing them up better would help, too.
That was fun to watch!!! It would be fun to have this machine when all my niece and nephews would be around. They would have a blast!!! Thanks for the video, James!!!
I love mine, have a movie theater popcorn maker too. Have yet to figure out if the grands or my girlfriends like them best. We have a girls night in at my house once a month. They always want popcorn and cotton candy lol.
many years ago i worked at a carnival like event and i got tasked with making the cotton candy. first few tries weren't pretty but i finally got the hang of it
Little disappointed that with all those flavors there wasn't a "cotton candy" flavor 😂
Pink vanilla is the OG cotton candy flavor.
I ran the cotton candy machine at a church carnival one year. By the end of the evening, I had cotton candy in my hair, on the back of my clothes, on the inside of my glasses, even in my bra. Took two showers to get all the sugar off me. You'll maybe want torun the machine outside to avoid sugar on your ceiling.🤣
Please help me to make colored sugar. What is the best way to make wool? What kind of color and brand should I use and should we wait for it to dry?
I have this and love it Jolly ranchers are to high in corn syrup making the product more like glade don’t melt correctly must be real sugar and words great my favorite is to use hard peppermints and lemon hard candy
The statement of hard candy as an option seems like they saw that TKOR series using someone else's cotton candy machine when Nate and Calli were hosts and thought to themselves, _Hey! That seems neat, let's promote that!_
The number of times he said "Oh it's going everywhere" made me more concerned in his ceiling that the cotton candy lol
I sent a few of these to my children and grandchildren for christmas and was glad to see how it works before they send me the videos from the holidays.
I'm so glad you did this one. I love the idea (and cotton candy 😜👍) and the results weren't too bad at all with the sugar, but I didn't like hearing that it could/would have those flighty bits of airborne sugar flying around 😬. Darn.
I immediately that about it needing somewhat of a cover, to retain/contain that issue, though that would have to be rather large and cumbersome-ish, in essence and that's where main brain stops, lol, I dunno-but I thought it was a really great idea to review. I'd be one to get it and find out it's only drawback-the HARD way.
Thanks! 😄
See where the pink ring is? Make the cone follow it in a circle at the same time turning the cone so the candy wraps around it.
But sometimes of one scoop it goes up to there and sometimes I need like 6 when I first bought it because I couldn't figure it out but most of time once you to be just sit there for a little will fill it up
I've got one of these, don't use Jolly Ranchers. They have a different consistency with their sugar that forms something sticky.
Use something like the cinnamon hard candy, Butterscotch, or Peppermints. They have better use. Classic Warheads works too.
If the candy is normally a sort of sticky candy in your mouth like Jolly Rancher, don't ever use it.
Oh and. You roll it in the outside inside 😅 where the ring is. And yes. Find the technique. ;)
Aren't you supposed to hold the cone vertically and turn it in the ring? Why else would there be the ring?
ithanks for the review! 2 thumbs up! im def going to buy this for my grandchildren ..can juice crystals work?
LOL that’s what happened when I got my niece one a few years ago. My sister was screaming IT’S FLYINGALL AROUND THE KITCHEN LOL it was really good though 😊
Hey, you should pound the jolly rancher candy to nearly powder, then it will work like the ready sugar mix.
I wonder if you put the candy in a blender unit it was the consistency of sugar if it would work
Hey, I own one of these! The secret with the jolly ranchers is DON'T crush it. Put 2 in whole, one on each side of the spinner. Works perfectly every time.
I wish you wouldn't show the spoiler results in the intro. I like to watch it all and see if it works out in the end.
The raw flavored sugar is called floss, back in the early 80's when the carnival came to town I worked the food carts every year, I'd wrap cotton candy and fry corn dogs all day long, the machine is way too small to do the spin and wrap.
I've seen people making cotton candy at fairs and they pour the sugar into the middle while it's spinning and then it starts forming. You should try orange tic tacs.
wooden sticks are easier to use, and go into the side as it starts. Be careful not to hold the candy you already have on the stick over the heat. Great reviews.
The King of Random (TKOR) has several old videos talking about what can and cannot be turned into Cotton Candy. They tried several different candies over the years and figured out which type of sugar works best. They found out anything with natural sugars and corn syrup worked best. If it had Dextrose, it didn't turn into the fluffy fibers, instead slinging melted sugar out of their machine.
wow i was gonna quickly skip through the video but got mesmerised and watched until the end