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HOW FUDGE AS INVENTED
by Claude D. Barnett
This happened a long time ago and while there is no one alive today
who was there the story has been handed down for many generations and
is probably true. (Sure, that's what they all say, right?)
Charles and Elsa
Charles was an old fashioned candy maker and he and Elsa, his wife,
had a thriving business in the little town of Aesop, somewhere in
Lichtenstein. As a matter of fact he was so busy that he had to hire a
young apprentice to help him make candy while Elsa was busy in the
store taking care of the customers. Like most apprentices, he was
roughly handled and made to "toe the mark", to speak when he
was spoken to, and, of course, not to ask any questions.
The Apprentice
The apprentice's job was mainly to lift the kettles, stir the batches,
(this was before the day of the agitator kettle) and to clean up. As
things went, it was not a "bad" job but the poor apprentice
was "scared to death" that he would make a mistake and feel
the wrath of the short tempered candy maker, Charles.
In A Hurry
Well, one day, Elsa didn't feel well and couldn't take care of the
store, so Charles had to make the candy and wait on the trade as well.
This left him exceptionally short tempered and the apprentice had to
work twice as hard to try to please him. They finished cooking the
batch when a customer came in to the store.
The Mistake?
Charles left the kitchen with the admonition to the apprentice to turn
down the fire and not to let the batch burn, expecting to return in
just a few minutes. However, the customer was Mrs. Richbuks and she
was giving a big party to celebrate her daughter's birthday. She kept
buying and buying and buying. Meanwhile, the apprentice kept stirring,
and stirring and stirring. Finally the sale was completed and Charles
went back to the kitchen.
The caramel was, by this time, a big grained "mess". Charles
was really angry. He cuffed the apprentice's ears and gave him a
"what for". They poured the batch into some trays and went
about making another batch of caramel. Meanwhile, Elsa, who heard all
the rumpus, decided that she felt better and came downstairs to help
in the store.
Eureka!
Later that day she went back into the kitchen and saw the spoiled
chocolate caramel. Rather than throw it out, she tasted it and thought
it tasted very good. It wasn't a caramel because it wasn't chewy but
she scored it, cut it into squares and put it out in the store. For
lack of a better name she called it "Fudge", which happened
to be the apprentice's name.
The customers loved it, particularly the older ones, whose teeth were
not very good. So Charles gave his apprentice a raise and sold lots
and lots of fudge to all the people in Lichtenstein.
The end!
For more information and other "histories" of fudge please
refer to the book "Oh Fudge" by Lee Edwards Benning. |
