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If you were to define it, fudge is a rich and creamy confection. It is a semi-soft confection, usually very smooth and made using corn syrup, sweet cream, sugar, fresh butter and sometimes some incredible flavorings. Flavors can be chocolate, white chocolate, butterscotch, vanilla, buttermilk, Kahlua, kool aid, peanut butter, flavored gelatin, maple, mint, bourbon or even pumpkin. Fudge may have various nuts, including walnuts, pecans, pistachios, hazelnuts, roasted macadamia nuts, or almonds. Other ingredients that are used in some of the more uncommon or decadent fudge could be: popcorn, crushed candy canes, crackers, cheese, lime zest, candy bars, pineapple chunks, coconut, cookies, chocolate chips, caramel, espresso beans, chocolate chunks, cherries and other candied or dried fruit, or marshmallows. In contrast with other sweets and candies that can be traced back a thousand years or more, fudge is relatively new. Some of the earlier fudge flavors included chocolate, vanilla and brown sugar penuche. Michigan is the fudge capital of the United States. Nowadays, the mixtures of ingredients or flavorings are nearly endless. A few of them are: raspberry coffee, chocolate cappuccino, maple walnut, vanilla cherry chocolate chip, vanilla caramel, lemon butter, peanut butter, dark chocolate, chocolate caramel pecan and chocolate cheesecake. Nearly everybody likes creamy, sweet fudge, but a lot of people think of it as hard to make themselves. The original recipes for fudge were a little unclear and extremely difficult. Difficulty had to do with which recipe was used, the ingredients, how good the equipment was and patience . Also, being certain of the cooking time, precise measurements and constant stirring were pivotal to get the perfect fudge. Getting the ingredients to the right temperature, and stirring at the right time will also be needed in order for the fudge to be smooth, creamy and not grainy. Moreover it was really easy to under or over cook this sweet indulgence, resulting in the fudge not setting up correctly or the unsatisfying taste of scorched ingredients. According to legend, (although disputed) fudge was developed by accident with a failed batch of candy; most likely caramels, sometime around the year 1886. From this fouled up candy batch came the exclamation of or the term 'oh, fudge!' The first documentation of fudge was in a letter from Poughkeepsie, New York. A Vassar College student, Emelyn Battersby Hartidge, wrote that a classmate's cousin made fudge. In Baltimore in 1886, the confection sold for 40 cents a pound. In 1888 Ms. Hartidge procured the recipe and made 30 pounds for a Vassar Senior Auction. Other colleges like Smith and Wellesley later made fudge recipes of their own. While the actual word fudge has other meanings, none of them are equal to the old time, family favorite, premium chocolate fudge. In the United States, the word fudge almost always means a rich, creamy, mouth watering chocolate treat. At times you will see the word fudge is used on the packaging of cakes and brownies, but this only means they've added more chocolate flavoring. Author's Bio: Anna McAnthony is a staff and content writer at Chocolate Gourmet Candy, and has been writing articles and doing research on chocolate and chocolate candy for a number of years. Visit http://www.chocolategourmetcandy.com for more information. |
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