- Fudge is made by mixing sugar, Butter, and Milk, heating it to 240°F, known as the soft ball stage, and beating the mixture as it cools to make it smooth and creamy.
- The word "fudge" was originally a verb meaning "to fit together or adjust clumsily"; later the word meant to cheat and later still became a mild expletive ("Oh, fudge!") when something went wrong. It's believed the confectionery fudge came about when somebody somewhere was trying to make something else, such as Caramel or Toffee, and something went wrong. According to one story, it was a college lecturer in Virginia who was teaching students to make Toffee.
- It seems to have gained popularity initially among US college students in the late 19th century. Emelyn Battersby Hartridge wrote in a letter in 1921 that back when she was a student, she first encountered fudge when a classmate's cousin from Baltimore made it. She acquired the recipe and made 30lbs of it for a college auction. The student newspaper reported that “students would make it in the middle of the night, dangerously diverting the gas from their lamps for the task.”
- Before the invention of candy thermometers, fudge was extremely tricky to make and usually involved boiling the mixture and hoping for the best. Some cooks used cold water to test a sample while others added ingredients such as corn syrup which helped prevent the mixture from going grainy.
- Tablet is a Scottish confection which is made with similar ingredients but is harder and grainier than fudge.
- The largest slab of fudge ever weighed 5,760lb and was made by Northwest Fudge Factory in Levack, Ontario, Canada, on 23 October 2010. It's said it took a week to make.
- Mackinac Island in northern Michigan has declared itself to be the fudge capital of the world. The island is a mere 4.35-square miles in size with a population of around 500 people, but has more than a dozen shops selling fudge. Every August, the island hosts the Mackinac Island Fudge Festival, complete with events like Fudge on the Rocks, where local bartenders make fudgy drinks.
- A confectioner who lived there, Harry Ryba, known as the fudge king of Mackinac Island, once offered a lifetime's supply of fudge for $2,250 by mail order. His advert in the New York Times defined a lifetime as “A lifetime, being yours or mine, whichever ends sooner.” He lived to the age of 88.
- Fudge can keep a long time. An airtight package will keep in the freezer for up to a year without losing flavour.
- June 16 isn't the only day to celebrate fudge. More specialist fudges have their own days, too. National Nutty Fudge Day is on May 12 and National Peanut Butter Fudge Day is on November 20.
The Raiders Trilogy
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| Book One |
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| Book Three |
Power Blaster is a superhero who lives in a dimension not unlike our own, in the mega-nation of Innovia. No-one knows who he is or where his powers come from.
After saving the life of the President several times, Power Blaster learns that a test of a nuclear warhead to defend the planet against asteroid strikes will have devastating consequences for his world and sets out to prevent it.
Power Blaster's actions lead to an unexpected result - a wormhole opens between his dimension and our own. Anyone in the vicinity is pulled through. People from diverse backgrounds and cultures must co-operate to survive and learn to live with the powers travel through the wormhole has bestowed on some of them.
A stable wormhole is established between the two dimensions. Power Blaster is determined to bring Desi Troyes, the person responsible for the bomb, to justice. Help comes from some rather unexpected sources. Meanwhile, Shanna Douglas sets out on a mission of her own, to find out if there is a cure for the life altering condition the wormhole gave her friend, Benedict Cole. Little does she know that she will stumble upon the secret of Power Blaster's mysterious origins.
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