Have you ever heard someone say, “Oh, fudge!” when they’ve made a mistake? The rich candy-like confection known as fudge, like the Slinky, Post-It note, potato chips, and penicillin, is thought to have been created by accident. According to mythology, a confectioner made a mistake while making caramel, but ended up with something as delicious. On June 16, National Fudge Day, we commemorate this pleasant accident. Fudge has a long history with female scholars, dating back to the late 1800s and early 1900s, when recipes for it spread like wildfire among students at women’s colleges like Vassar, Wellesley, and Smith. For the Vassar Senior Auction in 1890, one student made 30 pounds of the stuff!
NATIONAL FUDGE DAY ACTIVITIES
Make a vacation to Mackinac Island for the Fudge Festival
Even though its permanent population is only approximately 500 people, Mackinac Island, Michigan is a 4.35-square-mile island with over a dozen fudge shops. It’s not necessary for the famed fudge destination’s celebration to coincide with National Fudge Day. Every year, a large number of people travel to observe the fudge-making process, sample fudge-infused cocktails produced by local mixologists, participate in a sugar-sack relay race, or search for one of many “golden tickets” concealed inside fudge boxes, which entitle victors to a free vacation package. The festival takes place in April, so you’ve got plenty of time to acquire your tickets and maybe even squeeze in a few extra hours on the elliptical.
Serve some ice cream
What’s going on here? On National Fudge Day, ice cream? Yep. After all, hot fudge sauce wouldn’t be complete without fudge. The sauce you spread over ice cream and top with whipped cream is essentially the same as regular fudge, but it never sets — in other words, it’s a mistake made out of a mistake! Until the invention of fudge, the only ice cream toppings available were plain chocolate sauce and fruit sauces. Of all, there’s nothing wrong with a strawberry sundae, but we owe this most iconic of American ice cream delicacies to the early fudge fudges.
Give the gift of fudge to someone special
It’s always fun to spoil yourself, but imagine how much more enjoyable it would be to receive a box of homemade fudge as a gift. Cooking a double batch takes no longer than cooking a single batch, so keep half for yourself and give the remainder to a friend or loved one. To spread a little sweet cheer, bring some fudge to the office (if you like your coworkers) or to your local firehouse or nursing home. Not sure how to combine an open flame and melted sugar? Almost every fudge shop will gladly mail its product to any location on the planet. You may even get a sampler pack of several different tastes this way.
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WHY DO PEOPLE LOVE FUDGE DAY?
There are so many options that it’s difficult to keep track of them all
Simply because chocolate is so generally liked, chocolate fudge is arguably the most well-known flavor. You can eat pumpkin pie, maple walnut, vanilla, coconut, blueberry, cherry, raspberry cheesecake, cookie dough, gingerbread, amaretto, Kahlua…need we go on? To put it another way, unless you had your sweet tooth extracted by a dentist when you were a child, you’ll be able to find a fudge flavor that appeals to you.
It’s surprisingly simple to put together
Fudge has a reputation for being finicky and difficult to create, maybe because it is more closely related to confectionery than other delicacies like cookies or cakes. That could be due to its late-nineteenth-century origins when it was frequently produced on a wood-fired stove without the use of candy thermometers. We now have exact temperature control, precise measurement, and ingredients like corn syrup, marshmallow fluff, and condensed milk that make making fudge a breeze.
It’s something we can celebrate all year long
Unlike other seasonal treats (such as crayfish, Hatch chilies, corn on the cob, and pumpkin spice lattes), fudge is acceptable and delicious all year. Sure, there are seasonal tastes, but one of the appeals of this treatment is that it may be served year-round; as a present, a party offering, a potluck contribution, or simply as a bite-size dessert that will genuinely satisfy with its richness. What’s more, did you know that fudge freezes beautifully? That means you can make a huge batch of your favorite flavor, parcel it out, and store it behind the TV dinners and frozen peas for those times when you need a little something sweet (like, say, the typical Tuesday).
