Fudge is a non-crystalline or amorphous sugar candy that is soft and smooth in texture rather than hard or brittle. It is made by carefully controlling the crystallization of sugar when boiling milk, butter, unsweetened chocolate, and sugar to 115°C. Stirring the fudge while it cools promotes many small sugar crystals to form, preventing large crystals that would make the fudge gritty. Fudge has a firm yet smooth texture due to tiny microcrystals in the candy.

1. Fudges-
Principles and Characteristic Features
Geetika K. Gopi

2. Sugar cookery
Product Temperature (oC) Stage Description Test
Syrup 110-112 Thread When syrup is dropped from a spoon syrup
spins a 5 cm thread
Barfi, fondant,
fudge
112-115 Soft ball Forms a soft ball when syrup is dropped into
cold water; flattens on removal from water
Caramels 118-120 Firm ball Forms a firm ball when syrup is dropped into
cold water; does not flatten on removal from
water
Divinity, ladu,
marshmallow
120-130 Hard ball Forms a ball hard enough to hold its shape
when syrup is dropped into cold water.
Butterscotch,
toffees
132-143 Soft crack Forms threads which are hard but not brittle
when syrup is dropped into cold water
Brittle, glaze 150-154 Hard crack Forms thread which are brittle when syrup is
dropped
Barley sugar 160 Clear liquid Sugar melts
Caramel 170 Brown liquid Sugar melts and browns

3. Sugar candies
Crystalline/ Non
Amorphous
Fudges, Fondant
Chewed easily
Cut with a knife
Small sugar crystals
Non Crystalline/
Amorphous
Caramels, Toffees,
Brittles,
Butterscotch
Plastic and chewy
Crack into pieces
No sugar crystals

4. What is a fudge?
• Fudge is a crystalline candy….Crystal
formation is desirable
• Tiny micro crystals in fudge are what give it
the firm but smooth texture.
• It is usually made from
milk
butter
unsweetened chocolate
about 85% sugar
• And cooked till 115°C
• End point separates fudge from caramel
[118-120°C]

5. Origin of Fudge
Invented accidently in 1800s by a group of Vassar
College students in Eastern United States trying to
make caramels.

6. Types of Fudge
Depends on the
ingredients added
Fruits, nuts,
caramels, etc.

7. Ingredients
• Chocolate is the usual base, fudges are often made
with marshmallow cream, peanut butter, vanilla,
maple, or butterscotch
• Often sour cream is substituted for milk and butter,
and nut meats or raisins may be stirred into the
fudge
• Other common additives include marshmallow fluff
or crème, vanilla, and chopped nuts
Variously flavoured fudges are used as cake icings
and ice cream toppings

8. Characteristics of a Fudge
• Appearance: chocolate colour, dull
• Consistency: firm, not soft or syrupy, not
hard, brittle or crumbly
• Texture: smooth, not grainy, not lumpy
• Flavour: well blended chocolate, not too
sweet, not strong

9. Science behind Fudge
• Heat
• Acid
• Invertase enzyme

10. • Forces of attraction between
positive and negative ends of
water and sugar molecules
pull individual sugar
molecules away from the
sugar crystal.
• The sugar molecules are
separated from the crystal
and surrounded by water
Sugar in Water

11. Heating sugar increases the energy of the
individual sucrose molecules in tidy solid
crystal structure, breaking it into a liquid of
disordered sucrose molecules
Heating sugar

12. Cooking
• As water evaporates, sucrose starts to
crystallise
• For fudge…. Crystallisation should be
controlled
• Too many crystals…. Grittiness… Grainy
fudge
• Syrup reaches saturation

13. Crystal formation
• Glucose and fructose surround the
sucrose and prevent sucrose molecules
from joining together
• Use of
corn syrup or other sources of sucrose
butter
• …. keeps sucrose molecules from joining
• …. different sugars interfere with each
others crystallisation

14. Sucrose
Glucose and
Fructose

15. Cooling
• Heat till soft ball stage [112-115 °C] and
then cool, undisturbed
• Syrup reaches super saturation during
cooling to 46°C
• Tendency to crystallise is stronger
• Stirring
…. Increase seed crystal formation
…. Helps sucrose molecules to find each
other and crystallise

16. Crystals in Fudge
• Crystal growth follows Le Chatelier’s
Principle
• “When conditions are shifted inside a
system at equilibrium, the system will
respond in an attempt to restore
equilibrium”
• In fudges, during cooling, the decreasing
temperature of the sugar solution
provokes crystallization

17. Stirring when lukewarm
• Promote crystallisation throughout the
candy
• Many crystals form at once
• Crystals compete with each other for
sugar…. And hence cannot grow large
• Beating causes surface shine to disappear

18. Precautions
Reduce crystal formation
• wash down the sides of the pan with a wet
pastry brush or paper towel
• don't scrape the pan
• don't disturb the candy until it's cooled
• don't let anything fall into the cooling syrup

20. Comparison
FUDGE
• Air is beaten into it to
make it lighter in texture
• Not glossy, fudgy in
texture
• It is made by boiling
cream or milk, cocoa,
granulated sugar, and
butter
FONDANT
• It is kneaded so that the
texture is stretchy and
tight
• It is white and creamy in
texture
• It is made by boiling
sugar and water