Buzz
Reader Charlotte asks, “What’s the story behind the name 'salt water taffy'?”
Despite what I believed as a child, salt water taffy doesn’t actually contain seawater from the ocean. In fact, my favorite salt water taffy, from Shriver’s in Ocean City, New Jersey, has neither salt nor much water at all. While other versions may use both, they’re not noticeably salty or watery. So how did it earn this peculiar name?
The exact origins are unclear, but according to a popular tale from the Jersey Shore, it goes something like this: In 1883, a storm hit Atlantic City. Back then, the boardwalk was much smaller and lower, and the storm’s waves easily swept over it, flooding numerous businesses, including a candy shop owned by David Bradley. When a young girl came in to buy some taffy after the storm, Bradley, surveying his flooded shop, humorously told her all he had was “salt water taffy.” She didn’t get the joke and bought some. Bradley’s mother overheard and suggested the catchy name stick around for good.
In Fast Food and Junk Food: An Encyclopedia of What We Love to Eat—food historian Andrew Smith offers a different version of the story, one that revolves around Bradley’s boss. He explains that the term 'salt water' taffy was 'simply a marketing strategy—and a very effective one at that. The name quickly caught on with other vendors in Atlantic City, and was later adopted by candy makers in coastal towns from Florida to Massachusetts. By the 1920s, saltwater taffy had become a major industry, with over 450 companies producing it.'
