Salt water taffy is one of America's oldest seaside candies, and Taffy Town is one of the names that turned a boardwalk treat into a serious flavour business.
What salt water taffy actually is
Strip away the name and salt water taffy is a fairly simple confection: sugar, corn syrup, butter and flavouring, cooked and then pulled and folded repeatedly until it develops its soft, elastic, chewy texture. That pulling process is where "taffy pulling" as an activity comes from - it was historically done by hand, and later by machine, but the principle is the same.
The Atlantic City legend
The name is the part everyone asks about, and the story usually told is that a candy seller on the Atlantic City boardwalk had his stock flooded by an unusually high tide sometime in the late 1800s. When a customer came in the next morning asking for taffy, he's said to have replied - half as a joke - that all he had left was "salt water taffy." Whether or not the story happened exactly like that, the name had stuck by the early twentieth century and has never gone away.
From a home kitchen to a flavour factory
Taffy Town started small, in Salt Lake City, Utah, making taffy in batches far removed from boardwalk stalls three thousand miles away. Over time it grew into one of the larger dedicated taffy manufacturers in the US, known in particular for the sheer number of flavours it produces - commonly cited as well over a hundred - stretching far beyond the traditional vanilla, banana and root beer into more unusual combinations.
Why Taffy Town turns up in other products
Alongside its own bagged taffy, Taffy Town supplies taffy pieces as an ingredient to other food brands, including ice cream makers who mix chunks of it through their products. It's a reminder that plenty of American candy brands operate as much in the background, supplying other manufacturers, as they do on their own shelf.
Frequently asked questions
What is salt water taffy?
A soft, chewy candy made from sugar, corn syrup and butter, pulled to give it its texture. It contains only a small amount of salt, not seawater.
Where does the name come from?
A widely told story about a flooded Atlantic City candy stall in the late 1800s, though the exact details are more legend than documented fact.
What makes Taffy Town different?
A very wide flavour range and a sideline supplying taffy as an ingredient to other food and confectionery brands.