Happy National Fudge Day!!

Today, June 16th is National Fudge Day!

Fudge has similarities to Scottish Tablet. English fudge is a softer version of tablet. American style fudge dates back to the late 1880s. A letter written by Emelyn Battersby Hartridge, a student at Vassar College is believed to be one of the first documentations of fudge. Fudge spread to other colleges, as well. Wellesley and Smith had their own versions of the Vasser fudge recipe.

Here is Emelyn’s recipe:

2 cups granulated white sugar
1 cup cream
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 tablespoon butter

Combine sugar and cream and cook over moderate heat. When this becomes very hot, add the chocolate. Stir constantly. Cook until mixture reaches soft-ball stage (234°-238°F). Remove from heat and add butter. Cool slightly, then mix until fudge starts to thicken. Transfer to a buttered tin. Cut into diamond-shaped pieces before fudge hardens completely.

For more modern takes on fudge, here are links to recipes at Recipezaar and Tastespotting.

Happy National Black Forest Cake Day!

Cherries, whipped cream and chocolate! Time to celebrate another chocolate holiday. Happy National Black Forest Cake Day. For more photos and recipes, check out tastespotting’s collection here.

Happy National Chocolate Cake Day!

It’s time for another national food holiday commemorating chocolate. Today is National Chocolate Cake Day. In celebration, here is a link to Tastespotting’s wonderful collection of chocolate cake recipes. Enjoy!

Totally random chocolate fact #2

With the Inauguration just a couple of days away, I thought I’d continue with the presidential chocolate theme.  Or, in this case, First Lady’s chocolate.  This one is rather unique.  Eleanor Roosevelt ate three chocolate covered garlic balls a day.  It was her doctor’s advice that eating this would improve her memory.

Totally random chocolate fact #1

Happy Chocolate Covered Cherry Day!!

That’s right.  Today is National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day! What a totally random celebratory day. It made me curious, however. Just who thought up this holiday and why? I decided to try to find out. And so I became introduced to the bizarre world of food holidays.

There’s literally a food holiday designation for every day of the year. Britain celebrates National Cherry Day on July 19th, but they aren’t chocolate covered. February 18th is Crab Stuffed Flounder Day. Seriously! Who comes up with this stuff… There’s even a National Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Night on August 8th. What?? Apparently warm summer nights result in desperation as gardeners get rid of their overabundant zucchini crop in the dead of night by accosting their neighbor’s porches. October 7th is Four Prunes Day. What I want to know is, why four? Why not one or eight or even any number at all? There’s even a Moldy Cheese Day on October 9th. But what I’m not sure about is if they truly mean moldy cheese hiding in the fridge (yech) or cheeses like blue cheese.

But I digress. Back the the original question. Who designated National Chocolate Covered Cherry day? I found lots of wonderful recipes, stunning photos, but no specific answer. The closest I got was this one from the National Confectioners Association website: Usually a company or individual connected to the candy type contacts a major calendar of events publisher – like Chase’s Calendar of Events. The day is often chosen for a significant reason. For example, the day before Halloween is Candy Corn Day. So there you have it. Somebody, most likely a manufacturer of the product, simply chooses it to push their product. But I do like celebrations, so lets celebrate this day and all it’s chocolate covered cherries!