Fudge

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 [[HI from willeim |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.)

Geographical

Mackinac Island and other tourist cities in Northern Michigan are famed for making slab fudge. Slab fudge is made by pouring liquid ingredients onto large marble slabs for hand working. The tourists there are referred to as "fudgies". Mackinac Island holds a "Fudge Festival" on the fourth week of August.

In the UK traditional English fudge has become synonymous with Devon and Cornwall and is traditionally made in a basic range.

American fudge

"Fudge" in the U.S. is usually understood to be 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 and penuche (sometimes referred to as original fudge), but these are designated by their flavor while the plain word, fudge, is understood to refer to chocolate flavored fudge. Penuche is most commonly seen in New England and is most similar to the original recipes.

Chemistry

Fudge is a drier variant of fondant.

In forming a fondant, it is not easy to keep all vibrations and seed crystals from causing rapid crystallisation to large crystals. Consequently, milk fat and corn syrup are often added. Corn syrup contains glucose, fructose (monosaccharides) and maltose (disaccharide). These sugars interact with the sucrose molecules. They help prevent premature crystallization by inhibiting sucrose crystal contact. The fat also helps inhibit rapid crystallisation. Controlling the crystallization of the supersaturated sugar solution is the key to smooth fudge. Initiation of crystals before the desired time will result in fudge with fewer, larger sugar grains. The final texture will have a grainy mouth-feel rather than the smooth texture of quality fudge.

One of the most important parts of any candy making is the correct temperature. The temperature is what separates hard caramel from fudge. The higher the peak temperature, the more sugar is dissolved, the 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 which varies by altitude and ambient humidity from 235-240 °F or 113-116 °C.

Some recipes call for making fudge with prepared marshmallows as the sweetener. This allows the finished confection to use the structure of the marshmallow for support instead of relying on the crystallization of the sucrose.

References

• Jones, Charlotte Foltz (1991). Mistakes That Worked. Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-26246-9.

See Also

Praline - a confection using similar flavors as original fudge

External links

• Science of candy: Fudge