Wild blueberries are synonymous with Maine, southern Florida is known for its key lime pie, and the alluring scent of freshly made New Orleans beignets is anyone’s kryptonite. I mean, are you even in Hawaii if you’re not eating shave ice? However, further up the Eastern Coast, everyone knows that no visit to the Jersey Shore is ever complete without a good ol’ fashioned piece of salt water taffy and, most importantly, indulging in the iconic, fresh and creamy, handmade fudge. As luck would have it, Long Beach Island happens to be home to a charming family-run fudgerie that’s been revered as the ultimate local confectionary institution since 1960. Known for the best homestyle, hand whipped fudge this side of the Pine Barrens, John Maschal’s Country Kettle Fudge is celebrating an oh-so-sweet 60 years and three generations of artisanal fudge-making excellence this summer—and we couldn’t be more excited to learn about this heavenly, chocolatey tradition. Legend has it that fudge was first created in the late 1880s when the soft, rich confection we know
today may have been the result of “fudging” a batch of caramel, with the candy ending up creamy and crumbly instead of gooey and chewy thanks to the unintended formation of tiny sugar crystals. Apparently, the name “fudge” stuck for this accidental creation, and so did the recipe for this newfound decadent dessert. Although a young lady from Vassar College has been widely credited with inventing fudge while a student at the Poughkeepsie, NY, all-women’s school, the Vassar Encyclopedia begs to differ. It notes that, although Miss Hartridge’s letter describing the fudge was the first known documentation of an American-style fudge recipe, she had in fact acknowledged receiving instructions from a classmate’s cousin. Similar histories within the same timeframe also suggest that fudge could have just as easily been a European or South American invention, as Scotland was first recognized for cooking up tablet (taiblet in Scots) during those same formative years, and a little further east, the Polish cream fudge krówki became wildly popular as the candied version of dulce de leche, which originated in Argentina as far back as the 1820s. bay-magazine.com 197