1 February 2014

War of the Salted Fudge [By @SpectreUK]


I've always been a big fan of clotted cream fudge and vanilla fudge ever since I was a small child. I know, I know... Some of you may be thinking that I've probably liked fudge for a very long time indeed in that case. I guess you'd be right! What I haven't been a fan of though is any other type or flavour of fudge. Yes fudge to me is something that should be plain and sweet with no flavouring or chocolate coating, and to put sea salt even in the same area as a piece of sweet luxurious fudge would be sacrilidge. It's like salted popcorn. It's just wrong! Knowing my (probably strange) sentiments on this, Cinabar brought me these two sea salted fudge packets to have a good old fight over. I said at the time that there could be no winners in this battle, only the sweet yet sea salty devastation of mankind!



Bon Bon’s Fudge - Premium Collection - Caramel & Sea Salt

Caramel and Sea Salt flavoured fudge! The packet stated "Hand broken butter fudge with caramel and a pinch of Cornish sea salt". Presumably sea salt from elsewhere tastes differently? And presumably "hand broken" means that either someone had their hand broken for adding sea salt to the recipe in the first place? Or to make the thick slab shaped pieces of fudge, someone broke up the fudge with their hands rather than stamping on it as it came out of the oven?

This fudge was made by Bon Bon in Wetherby, Leeds, and some kind soul had hand packed rather than kicked this oddly flavoured fudge into the 160g packet. There was a sweet smell of caramel on opening the packet with a hint of salt at the end of the sniff. As there was the lightest hint of salt in the smell I began to relax a little. The fudge had a soft bite to it. Although there was a hint of salt in the sweet fudge odour, the salt flavour was definitely present all the way through eating the fudge slab and there was a bit of a salty aftertaste. There was still a sweetness from the caramel so the all round flavour of the fudge was certainly not unpleasant. As I ate more and shared a few pieces with Cinabar we agreed that the Caramel and Sea Salt flavoured fudge slabs had a balanced, rich and luxurious flavour to them. We could really appreciate the quality of this fudge, so much so that I even began to warm to the concept of salted fudge!



Monty Bojangles Scrummy Sassy & Natural Sea Salt Infused Butter Fudge

Produced in the UK this cube shaped butter fudge came in a posh, yet strangely designed cardboard packet with a cat theme to it. This Sea Salt Infused Butter Fudge was personally selected by Monty Bojangles, who "is the cat in charge". A cat sounds like the perfect boss to me as you'd probably never see them or at least only around lunchtime, and they would be pretty easy to bribe with a bowl of milk and a plate of salmon! Presumably the 110g packet wasn't paw packed by Monty Bojangles, due to the hygiene risk of moulting and also cats have a habit of licking themselves all over to wash, which you could bear in mind next time you kiss, lick or stroke one!

There was a butter fudge smell on opening the packet. Through the buttery smell there was a light smell of salt that tickled my nostril hairs. It was the pleasurable childlike kind of smell that you could probably sniff for hours. There was a scrumptious butter fudge flavour all the way though eating and then an almost violent kick of salt at the end, which moved through to a salty aftertaste. This Sea Salt Infused Butter Fudge was very nice indeed and was surprisingly moreish for someone who couldn't bear the concept of adding salt to fudge in the first place.

Conclusion - Personally I liked the Monty Bojangles sea salt fudge the best, but it was very close. There was no sitting on the fence as cats often do to elevate themselves to their own illusions of self importance. The cat had the edge on the taste! The pure buttery flavour complemented the sea salt rather than the addition of caramel, although the Bon Bon’s did have a good caramel taste to them.

Another surprising result is that I actually enjoyed the addition of sea salt to the fudge recipes, and I received another reminder that I should always stay open minded about my snacking in the future!
By Spectre

2 comments:

Helen said...

This review made me laugh! I had some salted fudge for Christmas, gorgeous!

cinabar said...

Glad you liked the post :-) Yes, Spectre is converted!