A plate of richly sweet, melt-in-the-mouth fudge (quick - grab yourself a piece - it won't last for long !)
Miles and miles of ..... freshly made fudge. Ooohhhh - heavenly !I absolutely adore fudge. I know it’s very sweet – almost too sweet at times – and very rich, but then I do have an extremely sweet tooth so this is right up my street ! Fudge is commonly found all over South Africa and although there are many different flavours – chocolate, choc mint, caramel etc – I still prefer a good old fashioned traditional vanilla fudge.
With apologies to all my UK readers, but the fudge you get in the UK is not ‘real’ fudge *boo hoo* the disappointment the first time I bought “fudge” in England, only to find that it was a soft sweet - almost a cross between a caramel and a very soft toffee. I thought it was just the brand – so tried another, and another and even went to Harrods to buy fudge there – to be bitterly disappointed once again !
The fudge which I’m talking about has a dry frosting (icing) like texture, when you bite into it, it snaps off easily (and is crumbly & smooth) and dissolves on your tongue in a warm sugary pool of – heaven ! It’s not at all chewy or caramel-y. Oh, no. It has the same sort of effect in your mouth as a great big teaspoon of melting - almost warm textured - peanut butter. (Oh yes, come on admit it – we all do it from time to time – dip the spoon into the jar and take a big mouthful !)
Now, for a short while in South Africa there was a franchise called “The American Fudge Factory”. I have no idea if it is still going, or if it was American at all. But the fudge which they made was exactly like the traditional fudge which I know – so maybe some of my American readers can enlighten me. Do you have fudge in America, and what is it’s texture like ? I’m dying to know !
Here is my traditional recipe for South African fudge (although the addition of flour is not very common, this recipe is traditional nevertheless). It’s one which I’ve been making since I was a teenager and I guarantee you, it works every time (and is quite addictive) -:
Foolproof South African Fudge
1,5 kg’s Sugar
45 ml Syrup (Golden Corn Syrup - the one I use is quite thick)
1 x 397 gm tin Condensed Milk
1 x tin Water (refill the empty Condensed Milk tin with water to measure)
100 gm Margarine
1 ½ tsp Vanilla Essence
1 ½ tsp Cream of Tartare
250 ml Flour (or 125 ml Flour & 125 ml Cocoa Powder for Chocolate Fudge)
Mix flour & sugar together. Melt syrup, condensed milk, water & margarine in a large pot. Add the flour/sugar mixture to this, stirring continuously. As soon as the mixture comes to the boil, add the cream of tartare and stir only to blend. Switch the temperature down to medium/high and allow to simmer gently for 20 minutes. (It is important that the mixture simmers constantly for the full 20 minutes.) Remove from the stove, pour into a clean bowl (this is important, too) and add the vanilla essence, stirring to blend. Now beat the mixture with a wooden spoon for about 10 to 15 minutes & you’ll see that it starts to thicken as it cools. Once it begins to thicken (to the consistency of a thick porridge) pour it immediately into a greased baking tray and allow to cool & set before cutting into squares.
With apologies to all my UK readers, but the fudge you get in the UK is not ‘real’ fudge *boo hoo* the disappointment the first time I bought “fudge” in England, only to find that it was a soft sweet - almost a cross between a caramel and a very soft toffee. I thought it was just the brand – so tried another, and another and even went to Harrods to buy fudge there – to be bitterly disappointed once again !
The fudge which I’m talking about has a dry frosting (icing) like texture, when you bite into it, it snaps off easily (and is crumbly & smooth) and dissolves on your tongue in a warm sugary pool of – heaven ! It’s not at all chewy or caramel-y. Oh, no. It has the same sort of effect in your mouth as a great big teaspoon of melting - almost warm textured - peanut butter. (Oh yes, come on admit it – we all do it from time to time – dip the spoon into the jar and take a big mouthful !)
Now, for a short while in South Africa there was a franchise called “The American Fudge Factory”. I have no idea if it is still going, or if it was American at all. But the fudge which they made was exactly like the traditional fudge which I know – so maybe some of my American readers can enlighten me. Do you have fudge in America, and what is it’s texture like ? I’m dying to know !
Here is my traditional recipe for South African fudge (although the addition of flour is not very common, this recipe is traditional nevertheless). It’s one which I’ve been making since I was a teenager and I guarantee you, it works every time (and is quite addictive) -:
Foolproof South African Fudge
1,5 kg’s Sugar
45 ml Syrup (Golden Corn Syrup - the one I use is quite thick)
1 x 397 gm tin Condensed Milk
1 x tin Water (refill the empty Condensed Milk tin with water to measure)
100 gm Margarine
1 ½ tsp Vanilla Essence
1 ½ tsp Cream of Tartare
250 ml Flour (or 125 ml Flour & 125 ml Cocoa Powder for Chocolate Fudge)
Mix flour & sugar together. Melt syrup, condensed milk, water & margarine in a large pot. Add the flour/sugar mixture to this, stirring continuously. As soon as the mixture comes to the boil, add the cream of tartare and stir only to blend. Switch the temperature down to medium/high and allow to simmer gently for 20 minutes. (It is important that the mixture simmers constantly for the full 20 minutes.) Remove from the stove, pour into a clean bowl (this is important, too) and add the vanilla essence, stirring to blend. Now beat the mixture with a wooden spoon for about 10 to 15 minutes & you’ll see that it starts to thicken as it cools. Once it begins to thicken (to the consistency of a thick porridge) pour it immediately into a greased baking tray and allow to cool & set before cutting into squares.
