When most people think of fairy floss, they'll think of carnivals, shows, or the buckets you can buy at the cinema. One business in the Eurobodalla Shire is looking to change those stereotypes.
Belinda Linehan and her husband Troy started Fluffin Floss during lockdown, a business that sells gourmet flavours of fairy floss including unique bush tucker flavours.
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Mrs Linehan, who is also a marriage celebrant, came up with the idea as a way to cheer up some of her friends and family who were struggling with lockdowns in Sydney and the Blue Mountains.
"When we went into the second lockdown, it was devastating for both me and my entire extended family," she said.
"I've always loved having fun, so it was terrible seeing everyone suffering through lockdowns and all the couples who I had to keep pushing further back due to COVID.
"I just decided I needed to do something because I had my five kids at home, including a six-month-old, and they were starting to get down.
"I started making fairy floss for fun to send to family and friends, and people started asking me if they could get some as well.
"It just kind of blew up."
Mrs Linehan's family also helps with the fairy floss, which she admits is "hard to get right".
"Fairy floss is made by spinning sugar with heat, and it's hard to get the flavours perfect," she said.
"There's a lot of taste-testing and practice runs before we release a flavour, which my teenagers certainly don't mind.
"It can be physically hard work, but it's really fun and the place always smells good."
Belinda said she worked on getting the correct approvals from Council, and the business just 'went from there'.
She also developed her nutritional labels and hired an Aboriginal Artist at Burumin Art to design labelling for her bush tucker line.
"My husband and children are Indigenous, so they wanted me to do some bush tucker flavours," Mrs Linehan said.
"Now we're the only business offering bush tucker flavoured fairy floss, and we also offer other favourites like orange fizz, lemon, liquorice, and tropical flavours.
"We keep changing and trying out new flavours, and it's a lot of fun."
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Fluffin Floss can be purchased online through the business' website, but Mrs Linehan said she'd been approached by a couple of shops about stocking her product.
"I'm hoping as we come out of lockdown it'll keep getting better," she said.
"I plan to get to as many markets as I can, and I'm hoping to have a stall at the Crank-It-Up Festival in Batemans Bay.
"It's been a crazy, whirlwind adventure so far, and we're striving to keep producing new flavours and keep up the momentum."
