Apparently you can fudge with fudge.
Yep — with enough initiative, it”s possible to prepare peppermint, pumpkin pie, orange-cranberry or a few hundred other flavors of the holiday favorite. Of course, there”s nothing wrong with the basic chocolate.
At Oh Sweet Sugar in downtown Lakeport, Audrey Jackson currently offers six different versions. And she”s tinkering with the idea of a maple-bacon fudge — if only she could convince someone to go along with her.
Chocolate fudge and a tricked up chocolate called rocky road outsell all the others in her shop by a two-to-one margin. People are accustomed to fudge as rich and dark. The first documented version, after all, involved sugar, butter, cream and chocolate.
“I think it”s a comfort thing,” Jackson said. “You”re grandma made fudge. It reminds them of home.”
It was a hit from the start, firm but not hard, with a creamy consistency that melts in the mouth, all the while coating the palate with a fulfilling sweet and bitter richness. Some say that first batch was served up in the 1880s — not by a grandma, but rather mixed by an undergrad. Others scoff at the notion, pointing out fudge”s similarity to a basic fondant or the old Scottish treat (if one can use that word with Scottish cuisine) called tablet.
No matter. If history can”t pin down the precise origins of fudge, it does show just how quickly people began to mess around (fudge with?) the recipe. Almost immediately, cooks began adding marshmallows, presumably to help with the structure. Others mixed in nuts.
The experimentation has hardly slowed since. Jackson has even seen seven-layer fudge, with stripes ranging from the original flavor to strawberry cheesecake.
“I don”t think there”s a boundary,” Jackson said, returning to the notion of maple and bacon. “It could be horrible, but I think as long as there”s chocolate in it, it”s good.”
The chocolate-pecan-sea salt and caramel fudge sold at Oh Sweet Sugar is an example of an idea that work. The soothing nut flavor also carries a bitter edge that blends neatly into the dark chocolate. This balances the heavy sweetness of the caramel, which is punctured here and there by vague hints of saltwater.
Simple chocolate fudge could never approach anything like that.
Many of the tweaks were introduced simply to cut down on the chance that a chunky goo would emerge from the pan rather than a perfectly smooth confection. Marshmallow cream or corn syrup are common ingredients in such error-free recipes.
Blending sugar, cream and butter is perhaps more difficult than it seems.
“It”s not hard,” Jackson said. “But there”s a knack to it to get it creamy. If you don”t pay attention to what you”re doing, crystals form.”
Of course, brittle, crystalline texture was a feature of tablet, the Scottish dessert — probably a welcome thing after a plate of haggis.
“Dry fudge is gross,” Jackson countered.
Lacking a commercial kitchen at her place, Oh Sweet Sugar relies on boutique California suppliers for her maple walnut and other adaptations. And as the holidays approach, more and more people come in for a sample of old home flavors: chocolate, and sometimes a bit of marshmallow, caramel or nut.
So far, only the proprietor is asking about bacon.
Dave Faries can be reached at 900-2016
