Half Moon Bay Salt Water Taffy -Suite #28

 

At Half Moon Bay Salt Water Taffy Co. candy is our specialty! This coastal town has long awaited a store that offers various flavors of Salt Water Taffy, and other old fashion candy. Inside the store you can enjoy an atmosphere that gives a true sense of the coast-side with barrel candy, coastal art, and handcrafted reclaimed wood furniture. Half Moon Bay Harbor has many things to offer, so come take a walk on the beach, dine at one of our great restaurants, but don’t forget to leave the coast without some mouthwatering Salt Water Taffy!
Over 20 flavors of Salt Water Taffy
-Old fashion candy
-Old Pine Furnishings
- Wooden Kids toys
Phone: 650.200.8526

How to Pull Taffy

Old-fashioned salt water taffy is a staple of candy shops, which often feature taffy being repeatedly pulled on a large metal machine in the window. Salt water taffy does not contain ocean water and can be made at home. In order for it to achieve its light, chewy texture, taffy must be aerated, a process of incorporating air bubbles throughout the candy. You can make taffy at home and pull it with your hands to achieve the correct taste. This article will show you how to pull taffy to the perfect consistency.


STEPS ON HOW TO PULL TAFFY:

1. Make your taffy.

2. Let the taffy stand until it is cool enough throughout to touch with your fingers.

3. Wash your hands thoroughly, then butter them. Pick up the taffy with 2 hands. Form the taffy into a ball.

4. Pull your right and left hands away from each other sideways in front of your body. (You will be pulling taffy for quite a while, so find a comfortable position or friends to help).

5. Double the taffy on itself by bringing the ends together on the left side and pulling the middle with your right hand.

If you plan on making a lot of taffy, invest in a taffy hook. They are available through online kitchen stores. Install this large metal hook on your wall, clean it, and then hook the taffy around the middle, and pull. Double the taffy on the hook. Pull and repeat. This allows you to pull back and use momentum to help you, making it less exhausting.
Regrease your hands with butter as needed throughout the process of pulling.

6. Pull the taffy until it is light in color and stiff. This will indicate there are enough air bubbles inside to make it fluffy. Pulling taffy can take 15 to 60 minutes, depending upon the number of people you have pulling and the amount of taffy you are working with.

7. Pull hard on 1 end of the taffy so that it is stretched into a thin rope. You may need to take it between your 2 palms and rotate your hands back and forth to keep the round rope shape. Cut the taffy with clean, greased scissors and wrap the taffy in wax paper.

8. Twist together ropes of different colors and flavors to form a striped candy. Cut with greased scissors and wrap in wax paper squares.

Is there salt water in saltwater taffy?

Actually, no. There is salt—and water—in saltwater taffy. But it isn’t made with ocean water, despite the fact that it’s so widely available at seaside vacation spots.

So how did saltwater taffy come to be? One story holds that a seaside candy store was flooded by a storm and the resulting saltwater-logged taffy was discovered to be delicious. However, this story is probably apocryphal.

Why do you pull taffy?

The final important step in making taffy is pulling it: Stretching it out and folding it in half, then stretching and folding again, over and over, until you may reach the point of exhaustion.

Good exercise—but what does it do for the candy? As it turns out, pulling taffy aerates it, or incorporates many tiny air bubbles throughout the candy. This makes it lighter and chewier.

Taffy isn’t the only candy out there that gets pulled this way. We saw molten lollipop pulled by a machine at a local lollipop factory. In this case, the air bubbles added by pulling were to make the candy less rock hard and more brittle.

Salt Water Taffy Recipe

Saltwater taffy is a candy and an upper-body workout all in one. To give it its light but chewy texture, you’ll be pulling it, and pulling it, and pulling it for up to 15 minutes.

Makes about 50 1-inch pieces.

• 2 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 2 teaspoons glycerin (optional)
• 3/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 to 1 teaspoon flavoring (such as vanilla, lemon, maple, or mint)
• 3 drops food coloring (optional)

• a large (3- to 4-quart) saucepan
• a wooden spoon
• a candy thermometer
• a pastry brush
• waxed paper or plastic wrap
• a marble slab or cookie sheet
• greased scissors or butter knife

What Do I Do?

1. Mix together sugar and cornstarch in the saucepan.

2. Use a wooden spoon to stir in the corn syrup, glycerin, water, butter, and salt. Place the saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves.

3. Continue stirring until mixture begins to boil, then let cook, undisturbed, until it reaches about 270° F or the soft-crack stage. Wash down the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in warm water while the syrup cooks.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and add food coloring and flavoring. Stir gently, then pour onto a greased marble slab or into a shallow greased cookie sheet to cool.

4. When the taffy is cool enough to handle, grease your hands with oil or butter and pull the taffy until it's light in color and has a satiny gloss. You can have a friend help with this step, which should take about 10 minutes.

5. Roll the pulled taffy into a long rope, about 1/2 inch in diameter, and cut it with greased scissors or a butter knife into 1-inch-long pieces. Let the pieces sit for about half an hour before wrapping them in wax paper or plastic wrap and twisting the ends of the wrapper.



What Else Can I Try?

• Try leaving out the corn syrup and see what happens! When we tried this, we ended up with a crystallized candy with a melt-in-your-mouth texture very similar to after-dinner mints.

• Try not pulling some of the taffy—what is the texture of the resulting candy?

• Try adding 1/8 teaspoon of baking soda before pouring out the syrup. This will create many tiny bubbles that should result in a lighter, chewier texture.

• Try twisting together taffy ropes of different colors or flavors for fun new combinations.

Good To Know About TAFFY

Taffy is a type of chewy candy, similar to toffee. Taffy is often sold alongside bubblegum and candy. Taffy is made by stretching or pulling a sticky mass of boiled sugar, butter or vegetable oil, flavorings, and coloring until fluffy. When this process is complete, the taffy is rolled, cut into small pastel-coloured pieces and wrapped in wax paper to keep it soft. It usually has a fruity flavor, but other flavors are common as well, including molasses and the classic unflavored taffy.

Salt water taffy was a noted invention of Atlantic City, New Jersey, and became a common souvenir of many coastal resort towns. Modern commercial taffy is made primarily from corn syrup, glycerin and butter. The pulling process, which makes the candy lighter and chewier, consists of stretching out the mixture, folding it over and stretching it out again. Although it is called "salt water" taffy, it does not include any salt water in its manufacture at all. In the nearby Philadelphia regional dialect, the term "taffy" without "salt water" before it often refers to a lollypop or sucker[1].

In the United Kingdom, taffy candies are called chews. They are shaped pieces of candy very similar to soft toffee but without the caramel flavouring, and can be found in the form of popular brands such as Chewits or Starburst and Laffy Taffy.

Caramel candies are sometimes referred to as taffy (taffy apples), but are very different from common salt water taffy.

How To Make Homemade Salt Water Taffy

Ingredients: 2 cups sugar, 2 tbs. cornstarch, 1 cup light corn syrup, ¾ cup of water, 2t tbs. butter, tsp salt, 2 tsp. food grade glycerin, 3 drops of food coloring, 1 tsp flavoring, large 4 qt pan, wood spoon only, candy thermometer, brush, measuring cup, measuring spoons, cooking sheet, butter for your hands, cooking scissors, waxed paper.

Procedures:
• Mix up sugar, cornstarch, corn syrup, water, glycerin, salt, and butter in the saucepan. Put the pan over medium heat, stir every once in a while until the sugar dissolves into mixture.
• After sugar dissolves continuously stir until pan comes to a boil. Keep cooking until you hit 280 degrees. While this is happening make sure to wipe down sides of saucepan with water and brush.
• Remove the pan from the heat and add flavoring food coloring and stir them in. This is where you can be creative and have some fun with colors for special events or occasions.
• Pour mixture into a greased minimal in depth cooking sheet, and relax for a little until syrup mixture is cool enough to place your hands on.
• Grease up your hands with butter. Pull the taffy for at least 15 minutes. Twist, turn, stretch, pull, with all your might. If you have kids this is a great time for them to get involved. You will begin to see a satiny gloss on the taffy that is when you start to roll it.
• Roll taffy into a rope that is about 3/4 inch diameter, or ½ inch. Then cut the taffy into ¾ inch long pieces. Wrap the taffy in the wax paper twist, twist ends and serve.

Recommended flavoring: vanilla, licorice, lemon, maple!

Remember some quick tips:
Mix together different colors and flavors of taffy ropes for some cool combinations.
Make sure you pull taffy for recommended time.
Glycerin keeps the taffy soft.
Do not overcook the taffy
Make sure it is cooled.

Sweet Memories!

Ah, the fond memories of childhood: playing baseball and kick-the-can in the street, creeping cautiously by the scary dog on the corner, and heading to the candy store for a sweet treat after school. As you grow up, watching baseball becomes more common than playing it and the scary dog on the corner now belongs to you, but the allure of candy never dies. Lucky for you, Half Moon Bay Salt Water Taffy Company can bring the sweet taste of childhood back in one bite. And while you’re trotting down memory lane. Half Moon Bay Salt Water Taffy Company understands the nostalgic appeal that special treats have. Some customers are, of course, kids with a sweet tooth, but many are a little older, looking to connect with a childhood pastime.

For these time-warp-seekers they stock lots of vintage candies, and for everyone to enjoy, there are more than sixty varieties of salt water taffy, ranging from flavors as simple as cherry to as sophisticated as vanilla latte. The most popular flavors are peanut butter, double caramel, and licorice, which sounds like a tasty assortment either separately or shoved in one’s mouth all at the same time!

Kites are also available for sale at Half Moon Bay Salt Water Taffy Company. Half Moon Bay Salt Water Taffy Co. stocks everything from mini kites as small as your hand to larger, trick kites that take some serious skills to fly. After filling up on sweets, there’s no better way to burn some calories than heading to the beach or park and sending a kite sailing up into the air.

Take a trip into the past at Half Moon Bay Salt Water Taffy Company. Pick up some taffy and a kite and head out for a great day of fun in Half Moon Bay. We’ll see you there!

Make a memory sweet: Candy bars a popular trend!

A growing trend around the nation is candy bars. They are great for all occasions: wedding, baby showers, wedding showers, anniversary’s, birthday’s, retirement’s, and anything special to you. What are they you ask? A candy bar is an all you can eat buffet of all the sugar you could imagine. They come in different shapes, sizes, and always satisfy a sweet tooth. Candy Bars are colorful and give the event a great feel. It can be made of multi-colored candy or candy that correlates with the wedding or event colors! Guests go crazy over them and they are a great way to give your guests something to take home with them or devour immediately!

A clear plastic favor bag with a label of the event is a great way that guests can take home some treats. NOW WHO SAYS OPEN BARS ARE NOT A GREAT IDEA? This is a fun safe colorful idea that is sure to be a hit with all ages. Here are some pictures below of great candy bars.

Half Moon Bay Salt Water Taffy Co. specializes in candy bars, and other unique flavors for events. Contact hmbtaffy@gmail.com or call 650 726-2284 for your event today!

Make Homemade Salt Water Taffy

Difficult: Moderate

Make Homemade Salt Water Taffy
Are you looking for something challenging and chewy in the kitchen? Are you looking to have some good old fashion family fun? Then do I have the treat for you. Salt Water Taffy is a great American treat, but few people really know the secrets to how it is made, or what ingredients it has in it. If you want to be the hit of your household then follow these directions.
-Be ready for a workout. This is not easy work. There is no taffy pulling machine for you, only good old fashion elbow grease.

Ingredients: 2 cups sugar, 2 tbs. cornstarch, 1 cup light corn syrup, ¾ cup of water, 2t tbs. butter, tsp salt, 2 tsp. food grade glycerin, 3 drops of food coloring, 1 tsp flavoring, large 4 qt pan, wood spoon only, candy thermometer, brush, measuring cup, measuring spoons, cooking sheet, butter for your hands, cooking scissors, waxed paper.

Recommended flavoring: vanilla, licorice, lemon, maple!

Remember some quick tips:
Mix together different colors and flavors of taffy ropes for some cool combinations.
Make sure you pull taffy for recommended time.
Glycerin keeps the taffy soft.
Do not overcook the taffy
Make sure it is cooled.

• Mix up sugar, cornstarch, corn syrup, water, glycerin, salt, and butter in the saucepan. Put the pan over medium heat, stir every once in a while until the sugar dissolves into mixture.
• After sugar dissolves continuously stir until pan comes to a boil. Keep cooking until you hit 280 degrees. While this is happening make sure to wipe down sides of saucepan with water and brush.
• Remove the pan from the heat and add flavoring food coloring and stir them in. This is where you can be creative and have some fun with colors for special events or occasions.
• Pour mixture into a greased minimal in depth cooking sheet, and relax for a little until syrup mixture is cool enough to place your hands on.
• Grease up your hands with butter. Pull the taffy for at least 15 minutes. Twist, turn, stretch, pull, with all your might. If you have kids this is a great time for them to get involved. You will begin to see a satiny gloss on the taffy that is when you start to roll it.
• Roll taffy into a rope that is about 3/4 inch diameter, or ½ inch. Then cut the taffy into ¾ inch long pieces. Wrap the taffy in the wax paper twist, twist ends and serve.

- These are tips by the expert in candy Taffyman. You can find us on facebook at Half Moon Bay Salt Water Taffy Co. Or our website halfmoonbaytaffy.com email at: hmbtaffy@gmail.com for questions or comments. Look for these on YouTube.

How To Eat Abba Zabba's and Big Hunk's

Made by Annabelle’s candy Abba Zabba’s and Big Hunk’s has been a staple hold to American candy lovers since the 1950’s. The candy company is from San Francisco, California, and its fame come with these two candy bars. Many people can find the history of the candy bar, but little actually know how to eat it. There are a couple different ways for you to enjoy these treats.

Bite Size Way
• Find a really hard surface.
• Place candy bar firmly in your hand.
• Get ready….. and SMACK your candy bar on the hard surface.
• Open up package and enjoy the small bite size candies, and save some for later.
Soft Chewy Way- Microwave
• Find a microwave nearby and place in microwave for 10 seconds
• Now eat your soft chewy snack.
Soft Chewy Way- Hands only
• Take candy bar and place in your hands
• Rub together for 3 minutes to cause warmth
• Enjoy!
Caveman Way- Old School
• Take candy bar open it……….
• Eat, and enjoy!

- These are tips by the expert in candy Taffyman. You can find us on facebook at Half Moon Bay Salt Water Taffy Co. Or our website halfmoonbaytaffy.com email at hmbtaffy@gmail.com for questions or comments. Look for these on YouTube.