cotton

The first thing we are going to indicate about the word in question is that cotton derives from Arabic. Specifically, it comes from the term “al-qutun”, which means “cotton”. What's more, it refers to the plant that arrived in Andalusia in the 12th century.

Cotton is the name given to various species of the genus Gossypium, which belong to the Malvaceae family group. Is about plants with green stems that, when giving yellowish flowers, turn reddish. Its main peculiarity is the fruit that presents seeds covered by a erase white which, when the capsule is opened, it comes out.

Cotton lint is used to make a Textile fiber very popular. In addition, after a process of cleaning Y sterilization, is sold in different formats for multiple uses.

About half of the fibers used in the textile industry are cotton. With cotton all kinds of garments clothing: t-shirts, shirts, pants, etc. For example: "Yesterday I bought a cotton blouse with an animal print that I plan to wear on my birthday", "During the ceremony, the actor wore green pants and a very informal cotton sweater", "The model impressed with her sensual cotton t-shirt".

It must be said that cotton has played a very important role in history. And we cannot forget that, for example, its crops became the focus of slavery in the United States during the 19th century. There were many families who, thanks to the land they owned where this plant was grown, managed to become rich and they did so because the work of harvesting it was entrusted to slaves, people of color who were mistreated and had in terrible working conditions.

Cotton is used for various purposes in the medicine and the Nursing. It is common to take pieces of cotton to clean a wound. The cotton can also be used to soak it with a substance for medicinal use (such as alcohol or hydrogen peroxide) and then apply it on the skin.

It should be noted that there is the transgenic cotton, generated by the alteration of the seeds in laboratories. In this way, cotton of different colors or plants can be obtained that better resist the attack of pests or the action of agrochemical products.

However, we cannot ignore the existence of what is known as cotton candy. This is a candy that has great popularity throughout the world and is identified as threads of melted sugar that are wound around a stick and called cotton because it looks like that.
It seems that this product, which is so common in fairs, began to be made in Italy back in the 15th century. However, it was at the end of the 19th century, specifically in 1897, when inventors who were also candy manufacturers managed to shape the first machine capable of preparing cotton candy.