[1] Connoisseurs say they prefer Shriver’s salt water taffy to the better-known Fralinger’s. We’ll have to plan a comparison taste test (photo © Shriver’s).

[2] In addition to the original stick shape, taffy is also made in rounds. See why, below (photo © Wisconsin Cheeseman).

[3] A modern variation #1: You can buy chocolate-covered taffy from Fralinger’s. Or you can dip your own like fondue, or let the dipped pieces dry on wax paper or parchment (photos #3, #4, #5 © James Candy Company).

[4] Modern variation #2: Fralinger’s chocolate covered taffy pops.

[5] Modern variation #3: Fralinger’s taffy with filled centers: banana with a nut center, chocolate with a fudge center, lime with a lemon jelly center, and strawberry with a coconut center.

[6] A competitor of Fralinger’s on the Boardwalk created round toffee to differentiate his product (photo © Taffy Town).

[7] Fun with taffy: It turns a plain iced cake into something memorable (photo: The Nibble).

[8] A taffy bar was invented in 1912, and later called Bonomo’s Turkish taffy. You’ll hear all about it below (photo: The Nibble).

National Taffy Day is upcoming on May 23rd. Taffy, a soft chewy candy you can pull apart, has been around since the early 19th century. The flavors, originally plain molasses or sugar, evolved into an assortment of basic fruits, chocolate, vanilla and peppermint.

Today, that handful of flavors has grown to more than 80+ flavors at Taffy Town alone. There is just about any flavor you could desire, including passion fruit, piña colada and strawberry cheesecake.

There are even “savory” flavors like buttered popcorn, chicken & waffles and pickle. How about X-Treme Hot Taffy?

Taffy was (and is) simple to made from brown sugar or molasses and butter, and then with different flavors mixed in. Today, corn syrup might be added to prevent crystallization.

With the advent of the flavors, the taffy, originally white-beige, was colored to match.

The taffy is stretched or pulled for 20 minutes or so, and rolled into ropes. The ropes are cut into pieces no longer than two inches, and wrapped in wax paper or cellophane, twisted at each end, to keep the taffy soft.

Today’s taffy is available in two shapes: the “original” stick shape (photo #1) and round shape (photo #2).

Note that “Boardwalk-style” taffy is commonly called salt water taffy. It contains no salt water. You’ll hear why below.

Below:

> Best salt water taffy brands.

> The history of taffy.

> The creation of “salt water” taffy.

> Stick versus round taffy shapes.

> The invention of Turkish taffy.

> Is Turkish taffy actually taffy?

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> The difference between taffy and toffee.

> The history of candy.

> The year’s 60+ candy holidays.

Plus:

> How taffy is made: a video.

> How to host your own taffy pull.
 

[9] Since 1948, four generations of the Zeno’s family have been making the “World’s Most Famous Taffy™” on the boardwalk of the World’s Most Famous Beach in Daytona Beach, Florida (both “World’s Most Famous” attributions are what Judge Judy would call puffery—photo © Zeno’s Boardwalk Sweet Shop).
 
 
THE BEST TAFFY BRANDS

One of the first Atlantic City salt water taffy brands, Fralinger’s, sells the original taffy plus modern variations:

 
That’s a cornucopia of taffy! Head to James Candy to order yours.

Shriver’s, of Ocean City, New Jersey, ties with Fralinger’s as the gold standard, and many enthusiasts actually prefer it. It’s the oldest business on the boardwalk, making taffy since 1898 in the oldest building on the boardwalk. They churn out more than 2,300 pounds daily during summer, and offer 30+ flavors. We are advised to be sure to try the apple flavor. They have sugar-free toffee, as well.

Taffy Town of Salt Lake City, Utah has its own “salt water”—the Great Salt Lake. Their technique using whipped egg whites creates a softer, melt-in-your-mouth texture. With 80+ flavors, is their one that has escaped their notice? Trending flavors include Chili Mango, Mascarpone, and Red Velvet Cake.
Zeno’s of Daytona Beach Florida, not to be undone, makes 100+ flavors, some 400,000 pounds of it each year.

Sweet’s Salt Water Taffy of Salt Lake City is a fifth-generation family business with 50+ flavors. Like Taffytown, they use whipped egg whites rather than pulled taffy for a lighter texture.

Dolle’s of Ocean City, Maryland is still using their original taffy machine from 1926, which survived a hurricane,
 
 
THE HISTORY OF SALT WATER TAFFY

Before we get to American taffy, the butter-and-sugar pulled candy that became especially famous in the 19th‑century U.S., we need to go back almost two millennia.

The core technique that defines taffy—cooking sugar syrup and then stretching/pulling it to change its texture—has deep roots that run through the Middle East and the broader Islamic world, and then into Europe, before arriving in North America.
 
 
Middle East Foundations, c. 600–1500 C.E.

Sugarcane cultivation and sugar-making, which originated in Southeast Asia, spread westward (the history of sugar). By the early medieval period, refined sugar and sugar syrups were increasingly available across parts of the Middle East.

Confectioners in Persian, Arab, and later Ottoman culinary traditions developed a wide range of sugar-based sweets (syrups, crystallized sugars, nougats, and dense candies). While many famous Middle Eastern sweets aren’t “taffy,” the region’s technical mastery of cooked sugar—temperature control, syrup stages, aeration, and texture manipulation.
 
 
Pulled Sugar In The Persian/Ottoman Empire, c. 1400–1800

Persian and Ottoman confectionery have long-standing traditions of cooked sugar candies, including the hand-working of sugar by pulling and stretching. Pulled sugar “rope/thread” styles were not identical to modern taffy pulls, similarly relied on stretching cooked sugar to crate a rope.
 
 
Europe Sugarcraft, c. 1500–1800

As sugar became more common in Europe, European confectioners in elite culinary settings expanded sugar boiling and pulled-sugar methods. Sugar was still expensive and affordable only by the wealthy.

Sugar became affordable to Europe’s middle classes between approximately 1750 and 1850. Boiled sweets, toffee-like candies (often using molasses/treacle), and decorative pulled sugar work became more widespread as the affordable sugar supply increased.

During this period, confectioners standardized temperature stages and techniques that later show up in industrial and home candy-making.
 
 
The Rise Of Taffy In Britain & The U.S., c. 1800

By the 19th century in Britain and the U.S., candies made from boiled sugar (often with butter and flavorings) and then pulled into a lighter, chewier texture became recognizable as taffy.

The exact origin of the word “taffy” is debated, but the term becomes common in the 19th century.

In the 1840s candy pulls became popular; people got together, boiled molasses (or the costlier sugar) with a touch of butter and vinegar, and “pulled” their own taffy as soon as it was cool enough to handle.

These events were called taffy pulls by the late 1870s. It was an opportunity for teenagers to pair off and for courting couples, as it required two people to pull (in those days, a husband didn’t even kiss the bride until they had been pronounced man and wife).

 
 
The Commercial Taffy Industry, c. 1880

By the 1880s, “salt water” taffy, in small pastel-colored oblongs wrapped in wax paper, had become associated with the Atlantic City Boardwalk. A box taffy became the iconic souvenir.

From whence came the name salt water taffy? Here’s what we do know about how the “salt water taffy” appeared.

Around 1880, the Ritchie Brothers and Windle W. Hollis both had taffy stands on the Atlantic City Boardwalk. Taffy was the candy sensation of the day, a must-have vacation treat for children and adults alike.

At the end of the summer of 1884, Captain John L. Young, a prominent Atlantic City entrepreneur, approached Joseph Fralinger, a local vendor whose various stands sold cider, fruit, lemonade, mineral water and a storefront with cigars.

Young owned or controlled boardwalk property and concessions. After a dispute with the concessionaire, he asked Fralinger to take over the taffy stand on Applegate Pier.

Fralinger agreed and in the winter of 1885, he read books on confections, selling his first batch of taffy that spring. His first flavors were molasses, chocolate, and vanilla. More flavors followed, culminating in 25 different choices and color variations.

Now, back to the “salt water” story.

According to an account in Wikipedia, Fralinger was standing at the booth of another taffy maker, David Bradley, who had been selling taffy since 1883 and to whom the anecdotes credit with the “storm” story.

The “storm” tale created by Bradley told of a Nor’Easter that sprayed the ocean water over Mr. Bradley’s stock of taffy.

Fralinger heard one young girl ask for “salt water taffy,” another ask for “ocean wave taffy” and a third ask for “sea foam taffy.”

Fralinger recognized a concept when he heard it. He had already been selling boxes of taffy. He took the next step and popularized the name “salt water taffy,” printing boxes with that name and selling it as a souvenir of Atlantic City.

Here’s an account from his great-grandson, including many more details and how taffy was pulled.

According to the account, in 1923 another vendor obtained a trademark for the name “Salt Water Taffy” and attempted to get fees from anyone else using the name. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled against him on the grounds that the name had been used by too many people for too long for any one person to claim any exclusive rights to it.

Fralinger produced taffy in small oblongs. His first major competitor, Enoch James, made his taffy into bite-size rounds. Both shops still operate on the Atlantic City Boardwalk.

The first mention of “salt water taffy” in an Atlantic City business directory dates to 1889.

James Candy Company, an Atlantic City taffy maker established in 1880, markets the Fralinger brand today.

Oblong or round, the older the taffy, the harder it gets. If you value your fillings, pinch a piece before you chew it. It should yield to pressure, like a ripe pear.

Otherwise, you might want to remove the wax paper and nuke it for 3 seconds in the microwave.
 

[10] Stick taffy and round taffy, also called kisses (photo: The Nibble).
 
 
STICK VS. ROUND TAFFY: DOES THE SHAPE MATTER?

It’s more than a design preference: The shape of taffy changes its thickness, surface area, and how the piece is handled/wrapped.
 
Sticks

Stick taffy is usually extruded, pulled into a rope, and cut to length. Sticks are easier to wrap tightly and seal; a tight wrap reduces moisture and sticking.

Sticks provide a more consistent chew and are often perceived as softer because it warms in the mouth faster.
 
Rounds a.k.a. Kisses

Rounds were created for ease in bulk handling: tumbling, counting, and bagging.

Because they are thicker than sticks, they can feel chewier.

And because the wrapping of a round isn’t as tight as that on an stick, moisture can get in over time and the taffy can get stickier.

The bottom line is that neither shape is universally “better.” You might want to make your choice based on chewier (round) or softer (stick).
 

[11] Bonomo’s Turkish Taffy. Is it really “taffy?” No, it’s a different confection, and the answer is below (photo: The Nibble).
 
 
THE INVENTION OF TURKISH TAFFY

In the early 20th century, Turkish Taffy bars, the size of chocolate bars, appeared (and later, a jumbo bar was made for souvenir shops).

Many citations state that Turkish Taffy was invented by Victor Bonomo shortly after World War II.

But according to the Bonomo Turkish Taffy Museum, Turkish Taffy was invented in 1912 by an Austrian immigrant, Herman “Pop” Herer. In 1901 he started his own wholesale candy-making business.

While making a batch of marshmallow candy for M. Schwarz & Sons of Newark, New Jersey, Pop accidentally added too many egg whites to the batch. He recognized that the result had potential; and after much experimentation, he created, “Turkish Taffy.”

Why he chose that name is not recorded; however, our guess is that he may have been inspired by the Turkish confection known as Turkish Delight.

Later, Pop’s business was purchased by M. Schwarz & Sons, and Pop went to work for them perfecting his Turkish Taffy. M. Schwarz & Sons renamed the product Turkish Chewing Taffy (photo #12 below).

In 1936 the Bonomo family of Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York purchased M. Schwarz & Sons’ Turkish Chewing Taffy. They dropped the word “Chewing” and the treat returned to its original name, Turkish Taffy—a name trademarked by Bonomo.

Coincidentally, the Bonomo family was of Turkish ancestry.
 
 
But Is Turkish Taffy Actually Taffy?

What Bonomo and its taffy bar imitators make is technically not taffy, but short nougat*. The bars are made from a batter of corn syrup and egg whites that is cooked and then baked. Taffy bars are harder and tougher to chew than salt water taffy.

The way to eat Bonomo’s was to smack the wrapped bar against a hard surface to crack it into individual pieces (photo #8). The pieces were chewed over a period of time, so the bar lasted longer than an individual piece of salt water taffy.

In 1972, the Bonomo brand was purchased by Tootsie Roll Industries, which changed the 60-year-old smack-it crack-it formula to a soft taffy, eventually named Soft and Chewy Tootsie Taffy. It did not do so well, and by the mid-1980’s the product was discontinued.

After petitions by fans, the original Bonomo Turkish Taffy was relaunched in 2010—in the original flavors, vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and banana.

So…should you go for salt water taffy or Turkish Taffy?

Personally, we opt for the softer, chewier, salt water taffy. And on National Taffy Day, we’re going to dig into a box of it.
 

[12] An old Bonomo Taffy box from the 1940s. Before individual bars appeared in the 1950s (photo #11 above), the taffy arrived in large sheets that were broken with a hammer at the store counter (photo: The Nibble, taffy box CC-BY-SA 2.0).
 
________________
 
*What is short nougat? In confectionery terms, the word “short“ refers to a texture that is crumb and tender rather than stretchy and elastic. Standard (chewy) nougat is the familiar, elastic texture found in many modern candy bars like Milky Way or Snickers. It is “long,” meaning it can be stretched or pulled significantly before it breaks. It contains a higher proportion of corn syrup, which prevents the sugar from crystallizing and keeps the candy flexible and chewy.

Short nougat has a grained, soft, “brief” texture. When you bite into it, it breaks cleanly rather than stretching. This is due to a higher ratio of sucrose (table sugar) and less corn syrup. Because sucrose is prone to crystallization, it creates a grained structure that makes the nougat tender and melt-in-the-mouth, similar to the difference between a chewy caramel and a crumbly fudge.
 

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