Spinning sugar

Spun sugar is melted sugar that is spun into fine threads that look like cotton candy. Pastry cooks use it as a finishing touch for items such as webs and nests that sit on top of desserts.

Cotton candy gives the same idea at fair scale: melted sugar is spun so that it exits as fine strands and cools in the air into a delicate web of very fine threads. In the kitchen, the cook cooks the sugar to a syrup, lets it thicken slightly, and then flicks it from a fork or whisk over a surface.

The threads are fragile and absorb moisture, so spun sugar is made shortly before serving and kept dry.