Sans Fig Leaf
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"Fudge!"
12 December, 2003
When I was growing up one of my favorite parts of the holidays was when we went to visit my Great-grandma St. John. Besides being a wonderful grandmother, she made the best divinity fudge on the planet.
Bar none.
It was soft. Often fudge is so hard, you need a chisel and hammer to break off a piece, and then, if your teeth don't get chipped, your jaw muscles are sore by the time you've finished it. I've also seen lots of divinity fudge that comes out more liquid than chewy. It never quite solidifies at room temperature. Which doesn't make it very satisfying to eat.
But my great-grandmother's divinity always came out right between the too extremes: just a tad more solid than a marshmallow or merangue, and so incredibly rich and delicious that you had to rest after eating one piece.
Fudge is defined by the American Encyclopedia of Food and Drink as, "A semisoft candy made from butter, sugar, and various flavorings, the most usual being chocolate, vanilla, and maple. The candy was first made in New England women's colleges." It goes on to claim that: "'Divinity fudge' with egg whites and often, candied cherries, came along about 1910 and was especially popular during the holidays. The name probably referred to its 'divine' flavor."
Except that the Boston Cooking School Cook Book, written by Fannie Farmer and published in 1896, has a recipe for "Divinity" that matches the typical divinity recipes one can find today (two cups granulated sugar, half cup syrup, two egg whites, one cup chopped nuts).
And my great-grandma told me that she first learned how to make divinity from her own grandmother. While my great-grandmother's grandmother might very well have still been alive in 1910 (I know her maternal grandmother died in 1909, I don't know about her paternal grandmother, and I don't know which grandmother she learned the recipe from), I don't think that great-grandma's grandmother was likely to have been hanging out at a New England women's college at the time, ready to learn the recipe the instant it was invented, then rush back to Oklahoma to teach her granddaughter how to make it.
So I'm willing to bet that the other theory I've read, that Divinity Fudge was invented sometime in the 1880s, is a bit more likely.
Regardless of when it originated, it's one of those flavors I just start craving around this time of the year. Unfortunately, I never got to help my great-grandma make the divinity. I remember when I first asked her how she learned to make hers, she just said, "Oh, I've just always known how to make divinity and regular fudge." It was when I pressed her that she mentioned her grandmother. My great-grandma was the kind of cook who grabbed handfuls of this and pinches of that and started tossing them together. She never used a measuring cup and seldom wrote any of her recipes down.
So, I never learned her secret for making it just right. The climate here is a bit too humid for divinity to quite solidify properly--chocolate fudge and peanut butter fudge will, but the various vanilla fudges and most maple fudges usually won't. Still, I may give it a try again, this year. Because even if the taste and texture aren't exactly right, I bet one taste of divinity will propel me back to great-grandma's house.
And that will be worth all the effort.
-- Eudora Welty