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Fudge Is The Original Old Time Family Favorite Chocolate Sweet Treat

When it is defined, fudge is a confection that is rich and creamy. It is a semi-soft candy, usually very smooth and made with corn syrup, fresh butter, sugar, sweet cream and often some scrumptious flavorings. Flavors could be chocolate, white chocolate, butterscotch, vanilla, Kahlua, buttermilk, peanut butter, flavored gelatin, kool aid, mint, bourbon, maple or even pumpkin. Fudge may have nuts, such as pecans, pistachios, hazelnuts, walnuts, roasted macadamia nuts, and almonds. Additional ingredients that can be used in the more uncommon or decadent fudge might be: cheese, crackers, candy canes, popcorn, pineapple chunks, coconut, lime peel, candy bars, espresso beans, chocolate chips, cookie wafers, caramel, marshmallows, chunks of chocolate, or cherries and other candied or dried fruit.

Compared to other favorite candies that go back a thousand years and more, fudge is relatively new. Some of the early fudge flavors were chocolate, vanilla and brown sugar penuche. Michigan has become the fudge capital of America. Nowadays, the flavorings or mixtures of ingredients are almost endless. A few of them are: lemon butter, vanilla caramel, maple walnut, chocolate cappuccino, raspberry coffee, vanilla cherry chocolate chip, chocolate caramel pecan, dark chocolate, peanut butter and chocolate cheesecake.

Historically, (although disputable) fudge was developed accidentally by a failed batch of candy; likely caramels, around 1886. From this flubbed batch of candy came the exclamation of or the term 'oh, fudge!' The very first time we have documentation of fudge was in a letter from Poughkeepsie, New York. A college student from Vassar, Emelyn Battersby Hartidge, stated that a classmate's cousin made fudge. In Baltimore in 1886, the confectionery was sold for 40 cents per pound. Ms. Hartidge was given the recipe a few years later and made 30 pounds for the Senior Auction at Vassar. Other colleges (Wellesley and Smith) later made fudge recipes of their own.

While the actual word fudge has multiple meanings, none are synonymous with the family favorite, premium chocolate fudge. In America, the word fudge is nearly always associated with a rich, creamy, scrumptious chocolate confection. Sometimes you'll find the word fudge used on the boxes of brownies or cakes, but this simply means they have a little extra chocolate flavoring to the mix.

Everybody likes flavorful, rich fudge, but people think it is difficult to make. The first fudge recipes were extremely difficult and rather ambiguous. Difficulty had a lot to do with the recipe used, the kind of ingredients, how good the equipment was and the patience taken to make it right. Also, being sure of the cooking time, exact measurements and constant stirring were important in order to get the perfect fudge candy. Stirring at the proper time, and getting the ingredients to the right temperature are needed to make the fudge smooth, creamy and not gritty. Moreover it is really easy to under or over cook this confectionery indulgence, which often can result in the candy not setting up correctly or scorching.

Author's Bio: Anna McAnthony is a staff writer at http://www.chocolategourmetcandy.com, and has been researching and writing articles on chocolate and chocolate candy for several years. Visit http://www.chocolategourmetcandy.com for more information.

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Anna McAnthony is a writer at www.chocolategourmetcandy.com, and has been writing and doing research on fudge and chocolate candy for years.

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