Pashmak recipe | Persian cotton candy or fairy floss, amazing and delicious soft Iranian sweet in 5 steps

Pashmak is a sweet and delicious junk food with many fans and is one of the ancient Iranian sweets used in some religious ceremonies and happy rituals.

Pashmak is obtained using simple materials, and its texture is in the form of thin strings and fibers in pink, white, yellow, brown, etc., colors that melt in the mouth quickly.

We are adding the essential oils of fruits, coffee, cocoa, and saffron to the sugar used in the production of pashmak,By adding colored materials to white cotton candies, colored or colorful pashmak is produced.

In the past, most of these threads were wrapped around a piece of wood, but today, wool is wrapped in various ways. This delicious sweet also benefits the body, and in this article in the Cookery Magazine, we will introduce you to the properties of cotton candy.

Ingredients for making proper Pashmak for yalda night

Flour	2.5 cup
Sugar	2.5 cup
Water	1 cup
Lemon juice	A teaspoon
Cardamom powder	½ a teaspoon
Butter	1 tablespoon

Recipe for making Pashmak

The first step

To make homemade pashmak, first pour two cups of sifted pastry flour into a pan and fry on low heat for 10 minutes until the rawness of the flour is drawn out and its good smell rises.

Add half a teaspoon of cardamom powder and stir, then add a
tablespoon of butter and stir frequently until the butter melts.

⭐️Butter makes the flour a little lumpy, which is fine.

Then we remove the roasted flour from the heat, keep it aside until it cools down, and then sift it into a large round tray.

The second step

To make nectar, pour half a glass of water and a glass of sugar into the pot and stir until the sugar dissolves in the water, then please put it on low heat until the water boils and the nectar thickens.

It takes about 30 minutes on low heat to boil and become thick.
After this time, add a tablespoon of lemon juice to test whether the nectar has reached the required consistency.

We take a tablespoon of nectar and pour it into a bowl of water and collect the nectar with our fingers.

If the nectar hardens in the water and we can remove it with our hands, it is ready; If not, it should be boiled a little longer to be ready.

⭐️If the nectar boils too much, it will harden like a rock when you pour it into the pan. So make sure to remove it on time.

The third step

At this time, we put some pieces of ice in a freezer bag and tied the lid; we greased the bottom of a large pan with butter and then put the greased pan on the ice.

⭐️The pan gets greasy because the nectar does not stick to the pan, and the reason we put ice under it is because the nectar cools down very quickly.

The fourth step

After the nectar is prepared, we pour it into a greased pan, which we put on ice, and with a wooden spoon or spatula, we direct the nectar from around to the center of the pan until it collects in a cool place.

When the nectar is collected in the center of the pan, we take the cooled condensed nectar with our hands and make it into a circle.

The fifth step

We put the rounded nectar in the middle of the flour tray, take a little flour from around the tray, and sprinkle it.

We have to open the rounded nectar with our hands, swing it like an English 8, then fold it on top of each other until it becomes a circle, open again as an 8, and close it until the pashmak is formed.

We have to do this about 20 to 30 times.
The more slowly and patiently you spread the nectar into the flour, the thinner the wool fibers.

Be careful not to use scissors to cut the wool until the wool is completely ready because this will cause the wool fibers to stick together and ruin the work.

Our homemade wool is ready so easily. You need to act carefully and patiently. You can serve it the same way or mix it in small molds or in the bottom of a cup to make it a bite.

Types of fairy floss

Cotton candies are sometimes produced using only sugar. The taste of this type of pashmak is not much different from the taste of sugar obtained from it. Wools that are for immediate consumption are more of this type. In another type of wool production, they add other materials such as cocoa, coffee, saffron, cardamom, and food colors and produce the following types of wool.

• Saffron fairy floss
• Vanilla fairy floss
• Pistachio saffron fairy floss
• Orange fairy floss
• Strawberry fairy floss

Pashmak has been memorable for many of us, and we children of yesterday often ate pashmak in parks and enjoyed its sweet taste.

Iranian pashmak is different from the pashmak sold in the Amusement Parks today, and its cooking method is also different. Pashmak is made by passing hot and humid air over sugar.

When the hot air hits the sugar, it becomes semi-solid. After that, due to the continuous flow of hot air coming into contact with the semi-solid sugar crystals and the presence of air humidity, the crystals become long and narrow strands.

Pashmak is white, but sometimes food colors are added, and colored or colorful pashmaks are produced. Pashmak is also used as an irony in everyday language.

How and in which country in the world was the origin of first fairy floss production?

In some sources, pashmak’s production date is considered to be 19th century, but some people believe that pashmak was created in Italy in the early 15th century.

As mentioned in the historical books, a dentist named William Morris and a confectioner named John C. Wharton invented the cotton candy production machine in 1897.

Canada’s Tootsie Roll is the world’s largest cotton candy factory that produces fruit-flavored cotton candy. Today, cotton candies are available in different colors, flavors, and packaging, but in the past, most pashmaks were white and wooden.

The most famous fairy floss in the world

Today, this junk food is known by different names such as cotton candy (American English), Candy floss (British English), Suikerspin (Dutch), which means sugar spinner, and Pashmak (Persian: Pashm + ak).

When did pashmak arrive in Iran?

The history of using this sweet in Iran is not precisely known, but we can say after the Second World War, pashmak entered Iran, produced for the first time in the city of Borujerd, called pashmineh (پشمینه). There are several workshops producing pashmak in the city of Borujerd. 

Still, Persian cotton candy is mentioned in the poems of Abo Eshagh Ata’meh Shirazi, a poet of the 9th century AH, which indicates that this sweet has been among Iranian foods since about six hundred years ago.

میکشد کشکک بچربی هر زمان مشتاق را / می برد پشمک بشیرینی دل عشاق را

The most famous Iranian pashmak is produced in the city of Yazd, the history of which dates back to 1295.

During production and regarding its export, it was used in all parts of the world.

Do we have a National Cotton Candy Day?

Advantages and disadvantages of Pashmak

One of the unique benefits of pashmak is its soothing properties due to the presence of sugar in its composition, which also increases the brain’s concentration power and helps a lot in healing wounds.

Diarrhea is one of the most common problems among most people, especially diarrhea caused by medicine.

It can be prevented by consuming cotton candy because the flour in it will prevent diarrhea and repair intestinal scratches.

Due to the presence of cardamom, Persian fairy floss strengthens the body and helps a lot to cheer up and create an optimistic mood.

Persian fairy floss has sugar, sodium, calories, fat, and cholesterol. So you can use it as a healthy dessert.

Although pashmak is a delicious food, you should not ignore its disadvantages because cotton candy contains a lot of sugar and is harmful to people with diabetes. Too much sugar increases the risk of heart disease and exposes teeth to decay, so don’t overdo it.

Frequently Asked Questions about Persian fairy floss

Conclusion