I'm starting this because of a couple of post in 'Have you ever' thread.
I asked if you have ever been to a taffy pull and the reply was no and also indicated the poster was not quite sure what a taffy pull was.
In my youth they were fairly common. Now they seem entirely gone.
Taffy, as in salt water taffy of molasses taffy is made by cooking several ingredients, actually more boiling off water until the proper composition is established. But it is not done at that point. It has to be cooled to the point where it can be handled and while still warm pulled and folded over and then pulled again and again.
Finally when the texture is right so it will be chewable you pull it out into one long strand and let it col completely and cut into bite sized pieces and wrap each one up. (Excluding what gets eaten right away!).
If I remember correctly salt water taffy is just corn syrup, water, sugar and salt, until the pulling has gone on a bit and at that point flavor and color are added.
The thing is it all has to be pulled when it has cooled enough, it is not possible for one person to cook up a batch of salt water taffy and make several flavors. Actually It has to be pulled long enough that it gets tiring for one person to make one flavor. Adults and older teens can do it, some fit teens and non-ancient adults can do it without much trouble, but for the rest being able to hand off the pulling is needed.
This was once a pretty cool social event. Adults and kids working on a common project that produced some good and hard to get. Generally better quality than what is in the stores, and if you can find the extract you can get taffy in that flavor.
But this seems gone today.
This thread of for people to tell others about other kinds of events that are gone or seem to be fading.
I have not heard of a taffy pull in 30 years and the only reference to one I recall aside from nostalgia posts and articles is a not quite clean Christian Joke that involves a nervous first time preacher, some vodka in his water and this event at Saint Peters Church.
I asked if you have ever been to a taffy pull and the reply was no and also indicated the poster was not quite sure what a taffy pull was.
In my youth they were fairly common. Now they seem entirely gone.
Taffy, as in salt water taffy of molasses taffy is made by cooking several ingredients, actually more boiling off water until the proper composition is established. But it is not done at that point. It has to be cooled to the point where it can be handled and while still warm pulled and folded over and then pulled again and again.
Finally when the texture is right so it will be chewable you pull it out into one long strand and let it col completely and cut into bite sized pieces and wrap each one up. (Excluding what gets eaten right away!).
If I remember correctly salt water taffy is just corn syrup, water, sugar and salt, until the pulling has gone on a bit and at that point flavor and color are added.
The thing is it all has to be pulled when it has cooled enough, it is not possible for one person to cook up a batch of salt water taffy and make several flavors. Actually It has to be pulled long enough that it gets tiring for one person to make one flavor. Adults and older teens can do it, some fit teens and non-ancient adults can do it without much trouble, but for the rest being able to hand off the pulling is needed.
This was once a pretty cool social event. Adults and kids working on a common project that produced some good and hard to get. Generally better quality than what is in the stores, and if you can find the extract you can get taffy in that flavor.
But this seems gone today.
This thread of for people to tell others about other kinds of events that are gone or seem to be fading.
I have not heard of a taffy pull in 30 years and the only reference to one I recall aside from nostalgia posts and articles is a not quite clean Christian Joke that involves a nervous first time preacher, some vodka in his water and this event at Saint Peters Church.
