Why Does Every Tourist Attraction Sell Fudge? (2024)
Many North American tourist spots sell fudge. It’s just a thing.
Why fudge? In the normal course of things, fudge is… just another confection. It’s not as ubiquitous as, say, a chocolate bar. And yet, writes Robert Reid for National Geographic, “at least in America, wherever you roam, you can only go to one of two kinds of destinations: those with fudge, and those without.” Fudge is the best indicator of whether or not something is actually a tourist attraction, he writes.
But still: why fudge? “No one wakes up in the morning and goes, ‘Hmm, I need fudge today,’” one fudge-seller at a San Francisco tourist attraction told him. Instead, the kind of people who smell the buttery, sugary, vanillaey whiffs of fudge and reach for their wallets are people who have spare cash and time to kill. In other words: tourists.
If you head to any small town that’s regularly visited by tourists, writes Hamilton Nolan for Gawker, you’ll see it: not just some fudge, but a lot of fudge, usually made at a place that specializes infudge. This is true across the country and in Canada too.
The tourism-related fudge craze is nothing new, either, Reid writes. It’s been around since the Victorian period, when tourism as we would think about it first became a thing. At that time, he writes, watching fudge-making was a common tourist activity in places like Niagara Falls. “From sidewalks outside candy shops, tourists would peer through plate-glass windows in awe as mustachioed fudgeteers confidently combined vats of sugar, butter and milk, then guided the mixture into oversized machines that noisily churned out delicious slabs of sticky goodness,” he writes.
Of course, fudge-makers had planned this spectacle, realizing that “people will stop to see almost anything done,” as one 1901 pamphlet observes, “especially if the performance requires some particular knowledge.”
According to Reid, the first-known recipe for fudge is in a letter written by a Vassar college freshman named Emelyn Battersby Hartridge. “From that point on, the all-female student body carried on quite the tradition, swapping fudge recipes, singing songs about it and making it in bulk to raise money for the school,” he writes.
An 1898 newspaper describes fudge as “a wonderful Vassarene confection composed of molasses, sugar, butter and heaven knows what else.” Another newspaper from the same year indicates that by this point, fudge had reached Bryn Mawr.
At some point, though, fudge left the colleges. Some entrepreneurial person started selling this novelty at a tourist spot. The swell of tourism after the Civil War, unfolding only a little before the birth of fudge, created a new market, one hungry for entertainment in all its forms.
So maybe fudge—like Dippin’ Dots or cotton candy—became a tourist dessert because it was a novel way of making sweets. Fudgeries provided both the entertainment of watching something new and unusual being made and the happy junk-food rush of eating a filling, sweet candy. And today, although fudge isn’t something new, both those pleasures persist. It’s a winning recipe, so why change it?
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So maybe fudge—like Dippin' Dots or cotton candy—became a tourist dessert because it was a novel way of making sweets. Fudgeries provided both the entertainment of watching something new and unusual being made and the happy junk-food rush of eating a filling, sweet candy.
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.
Though it contains no saltwater, taffy—and fudge, its sister seaside treat—may benefit from being made in a beach climate. Perhaps the salty air simply gives people a hankering for something sweet; it's also possible that the candies' decelerated drying and oxidation in humid air give them a unique “coastal” flavor.
Fudge is one of the rare exceptions to the rule that sugar crystals are not desirable in candy. Tiny microcrystals in fudge are what give it its firm texture.
Ford came to Mackinac Island in 1975 he opted for vanilla pecan.) Whether you visit Mackinac Island on National Fudge Day in June or any other day – maybe during the Mackinac Island Fudge Festival in August – come find your favorite flavor and experience the fudge capital of the world!
Fudge can also include other ingredients such as nuts, dried fruits, or marshmallows for added flavor and texture. The key to making great fudge is achieving the right balance of sweetness and creaminess while still allowing the chocolate flavor to shine through.
The exact origin and inventor of this delicious confection are hotly debated. However, many believe the first batch of fudge was created by accident when American bakers “fudged” a batch of caramels. Hence the name “fudge.”
Fudge and chocolate are both candy, however, they have different main ingredients. Fudge is mainly made with sugar, while chocolate is mainly made with cocoa. Fudge is created by heating sugar past its boiling point, so it's considered a confection made from crystalized sugar.
Although fudge often contains chocolate, fudge is not the same as chocolate. Chocolate is a mix of cocoa solids, cocoa butter and sometimes sugar and other flavorings and is hard and brittle. Fudge is a mixture of sugar, dairy and flavorings that is cooked and cooled to form a smooth, semi-soft confection.
Sink your sweet tooth into an old-fashioned array of confectionaries! Peek inside the glass-walled kitchen to see our candy makers at work before choosing from chocolate-covered strawberries, caramel apples, toffee, fudge and so much more!
Whether it's chocolate, nut-filled or even swirled with peanut butter, fudge is a holiday favorite. But clocking in at around 130 calories and 5 grams of fat per ounce, this rich treat is far from a healthy choice. ... Fudge also boasts very little in terms of health.
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.
As Mackinac Island evolved from a center of fur trade into a summer resort destination, Victorian-era vacationers began to identify the island with sweets. At first, the most common candy was maple sugar harvested by Native Americans. Other treats, including fudge, soon followed.
When fudge is a verb, it means to avoid straightforwardly answering a question or addressing a subject: "Just answer my question and don't fudge the issue!" Fudge is an American word from college slang meaning "a made-up story."
By most accounts, the first batch of fudge was concocted in Baltimore in the 1880s. By the turn of the century, fudge-making arrived on Mackinac Island in northern Michigan, which today has a legitimate claim as the modern day fudge capital.
Beating the syrup caused the formation of crystallization nuclei, anchor points to which sugar molecules attach to form crystals. Few crystallization nuclei will form in syrup that is still hot, and sugar molecules will readily attach to them. The crystals grow so easily, and the result is really grainy fudge.
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