The other answers are “right” (it’s sugar melted with other ingredients), but I’ve got a feeling you’re not looking for the A.I. answer. My roommate brought a box (or two) of salt-water taffy from her trip to Outer Banks, NC.

I’ll eat it; but I still get a bit nervous with that stuff in my mouth——afraid I’ll swallow it wrong & choke on it … I’m over 40! shouldn’t my throat-instincts be better by now?

(Maybe, but my brain-injury makes that an iffy prospect.)

Anyway … maybe ‘watching it being made’ will show you what you’re looking to understand …

Food Insider’s video also tells us why it’s called “salt-water taffy” (even though there’s no specific “salt-water” on the ingredients-list), and their video-description tells us

Salt water taffy was developed in the late 1800s by Joseph Rowling in Atlantic City. Truth is this taffy has no salt water in it, and instead got its name from its proximity to beach waters, which obviously contain salt. Stores can run about 2,000 pounds of taffy a day. The process starts with corn syrup and lots of it. Salt water taffy is worked at room temperature, a much lower temperature than hard candy. If the salt water taffy is fruit flavored, then citric acid and coloring is added. A cooling machine stretches the taffy while liquid flavor is added. Candy makers stretch the taffy to add in air. That gives the taffy a chewy consistency. Next, the batch is placed into a batch roller and turned into a cylindrical shape. It is then cut, wrapped and sealed.

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