Fudge

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Fudge (disambiguation).

A slice of Russian fudge

Fudge is a type of confection, usually extremely rich and often flavored. It is made by boiling sugar in milk to the soft-ball stage, and then beating the mixture while it cools so that it acquires a smooth, creamy consistency.

American folk lore has it that fudge was invented in the United States more than 100 years ago. The exact origin is disputed, but most stories claim that the first batch of fudge resulted from a bungled batch of caramels made on February 14, 1886—hence the name "fudge."

One of the first documentations of fudge is found in a letter written by Emelyn Battersby Hartridge, a student at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. She wrote that her schoolmate's cousin made fudge in Baltimore, Maryland in 1886 and sold it for 40 cents a pound. Miss Hartridge got hold of the fudge recipe, and in 1888, made 30 pounds (14 kg) of this delicious fudge for the Vassar Senior Auction. Word spread of this great confection to other women's colleges. (Wellesley and Smith have their own versions of this fudge recipe.)

A basic type of candy is called a fondant. This is formed by supersaturating sucrose (table sugar) in water. The water can only absorb a limited amount of sucrose at a given temperature; by raising the temperature of the liquid, more sugar can be dissolved. Then, after the sucrose is dissolved, the solution if left to cool and the sugar will remain dissolved in the solution, but not forever. If, while the solution is supersaturated, a seed crystal (undissolved sucrose) falls into the mix, or the solution is agitated, it will set off a chain reaction causing the dissolved sucrose to form large, crunchy crystals. If, however, the solution is allowed to cool and then stirred furiously, violently mixing the entire mixture, it will form many tiny crystals that form a smooth texture. Fudge is a drier variant of fondant.

Unfortunately, it is not easy to keep all vibrations and seed crystals from contaminating the solution. That is why milk fat and corn syrup are often added. The corn syrup contains glucose, fructose, and maltose, which are all types of sugar. The new sugars interfere with the sucrose molecules. They help prevent premature crystallization by getting in the way preventing the contact of the crystals. The fat also helps lubricate the sucrose, keeping it apart.

One of the most important parts of any candy making is the correct temperature. The temperature is what separates peanut brittle from fudge. The higher the peak temperature, the more sugar is dissolved, more water is evaporated; resulting in a higher sugar to water ratio. Before the availability of cheap and accurate thermometers, cooks would use the ice water test to determine the saturation of the candy. Fudge is made at the Soft Ball stage (235-240 °F).

Some recipes call for making fudge using marshmallows. It is using the structure of the marshmallow for support instead of relying on the sucrose crystals.

Fudge in the U.S. is nearly synonymous with chocolate. In fact, the word fudge is used on packaging of cakes and brownies with "extra" chocolate flavoring or with fluid chocolate in the mixture. Other non-chocolate flavors of fudge are sold in the U.S., especially peanut butter, but these are designated by their flavor while the plain word, fudge, is understood to refer to chocolate flavored fudge.

Mackinac Island and other tourist cities in Northern Michigan are famed for making slab fudge - so named because the liquid ingredients are poured out onto large marble slabs for hand working- , and tourists there are referred to as "fudgies". Mackinac Island holds a "Fudge Festival" on the fourth week of August. Fudge is also sold in many other resorts throughout the United States, and is a staple of shopping-mall confectioners.

In the UK traditional English fudge has become synonymous with Devon & Cornwall and is traditionally made in a basic range. Since 1983 Jim Garrahy's Fudge Kitchen Ltd have brought over the slab fudge method and produce fudge in 8 locations and by mail order in over 20 flavours.