Fudge | Definition, Ingredients, Preparation, & Flavors (2024)

FAQs

What's the main ingredients in fudge? ›

This delicious fudge recipe is easy to make in the microwave with just 3 ingredients: chocolate chips, condensed milk, and butter. Add nuts, mini marshmallows, or candy before chilling to make this treat even more decadent, or try peanut butter chips instead of semisweet chocolate chips to make peanut butter fudge.

Although chocolate is the usual base for the candy, fudge is often made with marshmallow cream, peanut butter, vanilla, maple, or butterscotch. Variously flavoured fudges are used as cake icings and ice cream toppings.

Culinary legend has it that fudge was invented in America. On Valentine's Day, 1886, a confectioner and chocolate maker in Baltimore, Maryland "fudged" a batch of French caramels. The delicious result? The very first batch of "fudge" ever.

The amount of time you cook fudge directly affects its firmness. Too little time and the water won't evaporate, causing the fudge to be soft. Conversely, cook it too long and fudge won't contain enough water, making it hard with a dry, crumbly texture.

After years of testing recipes, we're pretty sure we have a handle on the most popular fudge flavors, but chocolate and cherry will always rank high on the list.

Fudge is a dense, rich confection typically made with sugar, milk or cream, butter and chocolate or other flavorings. The base for fudge is boiled until it reaches the soft-ball stage (135 to 140 degrees F), then stirred or beaten as it cools to minimize the formation of sugar crystals.

High-quality fudge tastes smooth and creamy because it contains small sugar crystals. It has a deep brown color and a satiny sheen. Poor-quality fudge tastes grainy because it contains large sugar crystals.

To obtain the world famous taste, the fudge is slowly cooked in traditional copper kettles over a gas flame. Once the desired temperature is reached, the mixture is poured onto marble slabs for a cooling period and then hand-paddled into loaves.

Why is fudge so tasty? ›

Between its deeply rich flavor and its silky texture, fudge makes a brilliant treat to pair with coffee. The sweet and bitter flavors complement one another perfectly, making for an unstoppable combination.

Fudge is a rich, chocolate candy made with plenty of sugar, cream, and butter. Fudge is usually cut into squares and eaten in small quantities. While fudge comes in many different flavors, it's usually chocolate. In the US, another kind of fudge is smooth, melted chocolate that can be poured over the top of ice cream.

Ingredients and nutritional information

Sugar, Sweetened Condensed Milk, Glucose Syrup, Butter (Milk), Cocoa Mass (3%), Golden Syrup, Glycerine. For Allergens, see ingredients in bold.

Corn Syrup, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Nonfat Milk, Modified Corn Starch, Cocoa, Contains 2% Or Less Of: Vegetable Oil (palm Kernel And/or Palm), Chocolate, Sugar, Salt, Soy Lecithin, Vanillin (artificial Flavor).

Fudge incorporates sugar, milk, butter, and other ingredients such as cocoa for chocolate fudge. The chocolatier then heats these products together until they melt. After this, the mixture is beaten during the cooling process. Think of fudge as a food consisting of crystallized sugar.

Fudge is a type of confection that is made by mixing sugar, butter and milk. It has its origins in the 19th century United States, and was popular in the women's colleges of the time.