A Very Good Fudge

with candied fruit, of course

Hello to friends near & far!

This will be brief. I’ve got plenty of thoughts swirling around in my head but, like so many, am quite taxed—currently traveling solo with a toddler! But I so wanted to share this recipe with you before my last online workshop of the summer, so here it is.

So many people only think of preserving in the fall, the traditional time of harvest, but what a pity since by then, though the farmers market overfloweth, so many of the best summer produce delights are already out of season. It might be a little type A to be thinking of what candied fruits you want to use over the holidays while everyone else is sunning themselves at the park (though you can certainly do both those things at once), but it pays off! On Thursday night, May 30th, from 7:30-9pm EST, I’ll be teaching all my favorite candied fruit techniques. If you can’t make the time, you can always watch the recording later (in perpetuity, in fact—as long as you don’t erase it from your harddrive) and ask any questions via email. More info here.

Then I’ll take the summer off teaching, as low attendance in the past has taught me people are too busy with warm weather pursuits during those months, before I announce the fall schedule (which will be slightly truncated since I’ll be busy promoting new releases).

My third cookbook, Nature’s Candy, comes out on October 22nd! Stay tuned for events in Toronto, NYC and Montreal. If there’s anywhere else you’d like me to be, I’d love to know. You can pre-order online via a bunch of sites here. Again, pre-orders are so incredibly important to authors, helping to determine how much of a marketing budget their book will get and how many bookstores will order it. I beseech you! But I’m also working on more exciting incentives that I’ll be announcing in the next few months. I’m so extremely excited to share this book with you. But like any book I’ve written, as soon as it’s gone to print I’m always dreaming up new recipes I could’ve included therein. Fortunately I’ve got this newsletter now to share them with you. You’ll see a number of candied fruit-related recipes that I wish were in the book coming to your inbox leading up to the release.

This fudge recipe was inspired by this gem of a little book that I found about a month ago at the Culinary Historians of Canada cookbook sale. As you can see from the many pages I’ve flagged, it was very inspirational! Classically, of course, the recipes lack detail in the extreme— no temperatures or pan dimensions. The orange fudge recipe morphed into grapefruit-buttermilk-Campari-poppyseed over a series of tests, at which point I finally I felt like I landed it. I’ve got a lot more research to do on fudge— I’m intrigued about why I found the traditional method of letting it drop significantly in temperature less reliable than just throwing it in the mixer and letting it go. But I’ll save that for a Kitchen Projects column. (Speaking of— have you got ahold of Nicola Lamb’s Sift yet? It’s an absolute MASTERPIECE. I made her Secret chocolate cake last night, subbing a nice aged sweet sherry for the Sauternes I didn’t have.)

Also pictured: my other favorite new cookbook, Make It Japanese by Rie McClenny.

(One of the thoughts swirling in my head is that it’s hard to photograph fudge, especially as a writer who just happens to have to take photographs, often snatched in the minutes between cleaning up breakfast and leaving to catch a plane! More important, I think, that I took the time to test the recipe many times—but taking ample time for both would be ideal!)

Candied Citrus Poppyseed Buttermilk Fudge

The tang of buttermilk, along with the bitterness of citrus peel, Campari and poppyseeds, balance the sugar of fudge, which keeps well and is easily gifted or nice to have in the fridge whenever you want a little bit of a treat.

I’ve used my Campari candied grapefruit peel here, from my package of edible gift recipes in the Guardian Feast last December. You can get the recipe here, just skip the bit where you sugar it. Feel free to sub in another kind of candied peel (and corresponding citrus zest)—I’ve tried it with Seville orange and citron/lemon, which were both delightful (& I used lemon juice in place of Campari, though you don’t have to).

Makes 32 pieces

• 400 g sugar

• 225 g buttermilk (not non-fat!)

• 75 g unsalted butter

• 1 Tbsp corn syrup

• 1 Tbsp Campari (or lemon juice)

• ¾ tsp kosher salt

• zest of 1 lemon or ½ a large orange or grapefruit

• 115 g diced candied grapefruit peel (preferably Campari; must be dry but unsugared)

• 1 tsp poppyseeds

Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan and line with parchment paper.

In a medium pot, combine sugar, buttermilk, butter, corn syrup, lemon juice, salt and lemon zest. Cook over medium-high, stirring occasionally, until mixture reaches 238°F (you’ll have to stir more as it approaches that number to make sure it doesn’t burn on the bottom).

Remove from heat and transfer mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high until it becomes thick (like natural peanut butter) and loses most of its shine, about 10 minutes. Add peel and poppyseeds; mix briefly on low to combine.

Scrape fudge into prepared pan and let sit until firm, 2 to 4 hours (you may have to refrigerate if your kitchen is very hot). Remove from pan and cut into squares.

Fudge will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for at least 2 weeks.

xo Camilla