"What is Taffy?"

Saltwater taffy (or taffy for short, I guess) has its origins in the northeastern United States, specifically Atlantic City, New Jersey.  Its popularity spread from there, and it remains a popular candy across that country to this day.

It is a soft, chewy candy with a texture similar to caramels, although the flavors and process of making taffy differs greatly from that of caramel.  The level of softness can vary depending on what temperature you cook it to.

To make a taffy, you boil sugar, water, cornstarch, salt, and some sort of syrup that prevents crystalization (like glucose or corn syrup).  It is important to get the mixture to the right temperature—too low and it will remain a gooey mess, too high and it will become hard candy.  Once you get that correct temperature, you pour it out onto a work surface of some sort (something like a marble slab is best).  As soon as it is cool enough to handle, the stretch and fold  process begins.  This stretching allows air to be folded in, creating the characteristic chewy texture of a good taffy.  

“Well, this ain’t salty at all!  Why’s it called saltwater taffy?”  That’s a good question no one really has a solid answer to.  There are a few stories floating around, but the lead one claims a storm caused seawater to wash up over the shop’s taffies one night, and the store owner simply marketed it as saltwater taffy the following day.  As a kid growing up in landlocked Oklahoma, I thought of faraway coasts as I reached for another peppermint taffy with my Great Grandma.  

Taffy pulls were a popular social event in the 19th century.  The host would boil the ingredients, and everyone would butter their hands and pull the taffy together.  The word taffy applied to various candies as early as the beginning of the 19th century.  All have the same principles—boiling some mixture of sugars and water, then pulling and folding the resulting blob until light and fluffy.