candy
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies.Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Thank you for your feedback
Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.
External Websites
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies.Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Thank you for your feedback
Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.
External Websites
Written and fact-checked by
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
fudge, creamy candy made with butter, sugar, milk, and usually chocolate, cooked together and beaten to a soft, smooth texture. Fudge may be thought of as having a consistency harder than that of fondant and softer than that of hard chocolate. According to most recipes, the ingredients of fudge are cooked to what is termed in kitchen parlance the soft ball stage, that point between 234 and 240 °F (112 and 115 °C) at which a small ball of the candy dropped in ice water neither disintegrates nor flattens when picked up with the fingers. Butter and vanilla are added as the candy cools, and then the mass is beaten until creamy, poured into a pan, and cut into squares. Often, sour cream is substituted for milk and butter, and nut meats or raisins may be stirred into the fudge.
Although chocolate is the usual base for the candy, fudge is often made with marshmallow cream, peanut butter, vanilla, maple, or butterscotch. Variously flavoured fudges are used as cake icings and ice cream toppings.
Britannica Quiz
What’s on the Menu? Vocabulary Quiz
The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Kara Rogers.
