Mackinac Island Style Fudge Recipe - Dessert.Food.com (2024)

FAQs

What makes Mackinac Island fudge different? ›

To obtain the world famous taste, the fudge is slowly cooked in traditional copper kettles over a gas flame. Once the desired temperature is reached, the mixture is poured onto marble slabs for a cooling period and then hand-paddled into loaves.

Ingredients. Milk, cream, sugar, corn syrup, skim milk, high fructose corn syrup, whey, water, chocolate liquor, hydrogenated coconut oil, peanut oil, alkalized cocoa, mono and diglycerides, buttermilk, butter, natural flavors, soy lecithin, pectin, salt, cellulose gum, xanthan gum, guar gum, annatto (color), vanilla.

In 1887, Mackinac Island's first candy shop opened as Murdick's Candy Kitchen. Henry Murdick continued to make sails in the back of the building, while up front, Rome crafted fudge using his mother's recipe.

How long is Mackinac fudge good for? Fudge is a perishable delight, and its longevity depends on how it's stored. For optimal freshness, we recommend consuming your fudge within ten days of purchase.

During tourism season, Mackinac Island handcrafts an average of ten thousand pounds of fudge daily and imports an average of twenty thousand pounds of sugar every week. Mackinac Island didn't invent fudge, but it did turn it into a delightful slice of Americana.

Fudge on Mackinac Island Today

Sampling Mackinac Island fudge remains one of the favorite activities of visitors, with chocolate being the most popular (although when President Gerald R. Ford came to Mackinac Island in 1975 he opted for vanilla pecan.)

Golden syrup – is what makes this recipe Russian fudge-style! The added golden syrup gives that extra sweetness and silky texture. Vanilla extract – to give the taste of vanilla to the fudge.

To understand why there's so much fudge, here's the backstory on why Mackinac Island fudge is such a big deal. The gist of it is that people on vacation like to enjoy a sweet or two. And that has been true since Victorian travelers popularized Mackinac Island as a vacation destination way back in the 1800s.

How much sugar is in Mackinac Island fudge? ›

Readers adore Mackinac Island's car-free roads full of horse-drawn carriages and bicycles, the island's historic sites including Fort Mackinac and the outdoor recreational activities you can enjoy in Mackinac Island State Park. More reasons why USA Today recognized Mackinac Island: World famous Mackinac Island fudge.

Michigan Maple Pecan

Ryba's Maple Pecan Fudge is the ideal maple indulgence bringing together the flavors of rich buttery pecans and the sweetness of pure Michigan maple sugar locally harvested. Made by hand using traditional copper kettles and marble slabs to create the richest and creamiest fudge on Mackinac Island.

By most accounts, the first batch of fudge was concocted in Baltimore in the 1880s. By the turn of the century, fudge-making arrived on Mackinac Island in northern Michigan, which today has a legitimate claim as the modern day fudge capital.

As Mackinac Island evolved from a center of fur trade into a summer resort destination, Victorian-era vacationers began to identify the island with sweets. At first, the most common candy was maple sugar harvested by Native Americans. Other treats, including fudge, soon followed.