The exact history of how taffy came to be is still a mystery. Taffy has been part of American life since the late 1800s, and has been a beach-side tradition since it appeared in Atlantic City more than 100 years ago. Some say taffy appeared in the Midwest at county fairs even earlier. However, Atlantic City is known as the home of salt water taffy.
Many manufacturers claim a shopkeeper by the name of David Bradley was one of the first sellers of the candy. In 1883, a huge storm hit Atlantic City and flooded the boardwalk. Bradley’s store was flooded and the ocean water soaked his entire stock of taffy. In one account, a young girl asked if the store still had taffy for sale. Bradley jokingly told the girl to grab some ‘salt water taffy’. This is believed to be the first reference to salt water taffy. Today some recipes for salt water taffy call for a teaspoon of salt.
However, Joseph Fralinger is credited with popularizing salt water taffy. Fralinger observed sunbathers and boardwalk visitors and came up with the idea to sell salt water taffy. He figured tourists would want a reminder or souvenir of their vacation to Atlantic City. As an experiment, Fralinger boxed the candy and sold it one weekend. It was a huge success and the demand became too much for him to handle.
Competition was not far behind Fralinger’s success. Enoch James became Fralinger’s biggest competition around 1900. The James family moved from the Midwest to Atlantic City after hearing about the salt water taffy craze. James located his store near Fralinger’s shop on the boardwalk. Each shop had different recipes to advertise to visitors. When James came to town, Atlantic City’s first ‘taffy war’ started.
