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Salt water taffy
history
Salt water taffy is the
symbol of every trip to the beach.
Is it really made made from salt water?
| Right off
the top -
salt
water
taffy is not made from
salt water. You do need some
salt and some water to
make a batch of taffy, however. But the
name "salt water taffy" doesn't come
from the ingredients either. No one
knows where the name "salt water taffy"
came from. The most popular story of
origin involves a shopkeeper on the
Atlantic City Boardwalk named David
Bradley. A tidal surge from a summer
storm in 1883 swamped Bradley's store
and buried his inventory in sea water.
As he was cleaning up the following day
a girl walked into his store and asked
for a bag of taffy. Bradley was supposed
to have sarcastically invited his young
customer to help herself to his "salt
water taffy." Bradley's mother thought
his grumpy remark to be catchy and
encouraged him to begin selling his
candy as "salt water taffy."
Historians record the first mention of
"salt water taffy" in Atlantic City
business directories in 1889 so the
Bradley story may be apocryphal. The
term was never trademarked, however, and
whatever its origins it became the
accepted way to market taffy.
Just as no one knows who first called
the sweet candy "salt water taffy,"
there is no record of who boiled the
first vat of sugar, corn syrup, water,
cornstarch, butter and salt to make the
first taffy. Taffy is thought to have
been a popular
confection at country
fairs in the Midwest by the 1880s and it
was certainly being sold in America's
first seaside resort by that time -
Atlantic City.
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About Eagles
Salt Water Taffy: Sealed
& packed In our special foot design box
mix flavor also available in
sugar free.
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| Salt water taffy is the
quintessential souvenir of a trip to the seashore and
for that we have a
confectioner named Joseph Fralinger to
thank. Built in 1870 by railroad conductor Alexander
Boardman, the Atlantic City Boardwalk was originally
designed to prevent sand from creeping into hotel
lobbies as well as the passenger cars of the Camden and
Atlantic Railroad. Atlantic City became the Queen of
American resorts and Joseph Fralinger was the King of
Salt Water Taffy.
It was his idea to sell the candy to
bathers and strollers along the Boardwalk in boxes that
could be carted home as a souvenir. He was so sure of
his idea that he purchased 200 boxes and filled them
with his slender, finger-sized logs of taffy. He started
selling his souvenir boxes on a Saturday evening and by
Sunday morning he had sold out his entire supply to
departing vacationers.
It did not take long for Fralinger's
competitors to notice his success. Enoch James left his
home in the Midwest to join the taffy wars with his
square bite-size serving of salt water taffy. Both men
prospered and more than 100 years later James Salt Water
Taffy and Fralinger's are still two of the biggest
suppliers of salt water taffy on the Jersey Shore.
Today, although it probably wasn't invented at the
seashore and it doesn't contain any salt water , salt
water taffy is available wherever vendors set up shop
near the shore. No trip to the beach can be complete
without bringing home some salt water taffy.
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