A Key Tip To Ensure Properly Cooked Fudge Is Choosing The Right Pot - Tasting Table (2024)

FAQs

A Key Tip To Ensure Properly Cooked Fudge Is Choosing The Right Pot - Tasting Table? ›

A general rule of thumb? Opt for a pot that can contain approximately four times the total volume of your fudge ingredients. Secondly, the pot's material should allow for good heat distribution hence your top choice should be copper cookware or a pot with a copper core.

Saucepan: Choose a heavy, straight-sided metal saucepan that holds about twice the volume of your fudge recipe. A heavy pan distributes heat evenly so the ingredients are less likely to scorch when they boil at high temperature. Using a large saucepan gives the ingredients room to expand when they boil.

You know it's ready when a small amount of the mixture dropped into a glass of cold water sets into a soft ball that you can lift out with a teaspoon and pinch between your fingers. Turn off the heat and keep stirring for 5 minutes or until the mix starts to thicken a little.

Confectionery experiments have shown that the ideal cooking temperature for fudge is around 114 to 115 °C (237 to 239 °F). The cooking is intended to evaporate a part of the liquid and concentrate the sugar.

Stainless Steel

This material can be found in many of the best pots and pans because it is durable and attractive. Stainless steel (particularly "18/10") is also prized as an interior cooking surface because it does not react with acidic or alkaline foods and won't pit or scratch easily.

Once the sugar has dissolved and the mixture has come to a boil, do not stir it. If you do, the sugar can crystallize, giving your fudge a gritty texture. As you beat the fudge, pay attention to color and texture. Once the fudge loses its sheen and thickens, put down your spoon.

The base for fudge is boiled until it reaches the soft-ball stage (135 to 140 degrees F), then stirred or beaten as it cools to minimize the formation of sugar crystals. The result is creamy and smooth with a distinctive semi-soft texture and just a hint of sugar crystals.

The amount of time you cook fudge directly affects its firmness. Too little time and the water won't evaporate, causing the fudge to be soft. Conversely, cook it too long and fudge won't contain enough water, making it hard with a dry, crumbly texture.

The main reason is that your Fudge has not reached the optimum temperature. If your mixture only reaches 110 or 112 degrees Celsius it will always be soft. That's why we recommend investing in a sugar thermometer. Another reason your Fudge is not setting is that the ratio of liquid to sugar is too high.

How to get fudge to set? ›

If your fudge fails to harden in the fridge, it means that you probably didn't cook it to the right temperature. Fudge is a candy, and that means it is extremely picky about temperature - fudge must be cooked to precisely 237–239 degrees Fahrenheit so that sugar forms the desired consistency when cooled.

Why won't my 3 ingredient fudge set? This often happens when the condensed milk and chocolate chip mixture isn't hot enough to start. Everything must be completely melted before it is transferred to the pan to cool.

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.

Candy that isn't cooked long enough will end up too soft; overcooking makes fudge crumbly or hard. High-quality fudge has many small crystals. If the process of crystallization begins too early, fewer crystals form and they become much larger.

Fudge can turn into caramel due to overcooking or undercooking, incorrect temperatures, or wrong ingredients.

You start by preparing your pan. I always use parchment paper, but you can also line with foil or even grease really well with butter. Just make sure there's a barrier so the fudge easily comes out of the pan once cooled.

A Sturdy Pot

You can't get anywhere in the candy making world without a dependable, thick-bottomed, super sturdy saucepan. You already have saucepans in your kitchen, but you might not have the proper pan for making candy. Make sure the pan you use to cook candy is at least 3 quarts and is on the heavy side.

Parchment and wax paper are both good options when making fudge, caramel, and candy. Both parchment and wax paper will do an excellent job lining pans, wrapping individual pieces, or creating barriers between layers when storing—the differences between the two papers for use with confections are minimal.