When most of us see a taffy-pulling machine cranking away on a touristy boardwalk, we think of sweet, sweet sugar. Jean-Luc Thiffeault thinks of sweet, sweet math. As an applied mathematician at the ...

Jaya Saxena is a former correspondent at Eater, and the series editor of Best American Food and Travel Writing. She explores wide ranging topics like labor, identity, and food culture. Cape May, New ...

BROCKTON — At Hill-Top Candy here, a team makes 75,000 pieces of salt water taffy a day. With its bright colors, simple paper wrapping, and old-fashioned box, the confection is an American classic.

Geddes, N.Y. — The same well-oiled taffy machine has been providing the soundtrack to the New York State Fair for 105 years. And it’s still going. We’ve all walked by the clicking and clacking dozens ...

Its taffy pull machines work tirelessly, winding away to stretch out salt water taffy 20 pounds at a time, and now that shop could earn a national title from the USA Today reader’s choice contest.