Oh Fudge!

July 1, 2016

HOW THIS TASTY TREAT BECAME NORTHERN MICHIGAN'S (UN)OFFICIAL FOOD

For many visitors, the sun, sand and natural beauty of the area aren’t enough. Before they return home, they need to experience – fudge.

After all, they’re fudgies, right? “It’s like the Starbucks of northern Michigan,” said Nick Viox of Downtown Traverse City.

So how did fudge become such a big thing here in northern Michigan? In years past, people weren’t able to or apt to buy candy as easily as you can today, and it was a special treat when going on vacation.

Cory Bissell, who owns the Frankfort Kilwin’s, said he thinks that is still part of the reason, as vacationers flock to his store.

“It’s nostalgic. People always had fudge as a kid, then they see us making it in the window,” he said.

But how did it get here in the first place?

A RICH AND DELECTABLE HISTORY

By most accounts, the first batch of fudge was concocted in Baltimore in the 1880s. It wasn’t long after that when father and son Henry and Jerome “Rome” Murdick were commissioned to create canvas awnings for the new Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. Along with the German immigrants came wife and mother Sara, who brought with her the family candy recipes.

They opened Murdick’s Candy Kitchen in 1887, Mackinac Island’s first candy shop. Henry Murdick continued to make sails in the back of the building, while up front, Rome crafted fudge using his mother’s recipe. The marble table gave the fudge a unique texture and also provided a virtual stage on which he could demonstrate to visitors how the fudge was made.

In an effort to draw in more passersby, in 1920 Rome and his son Gould added large ceiling fans, so the sweet aroma of fudge would waft into the street. They crafted the fudge in the front of the stores, stirring the chocolaty goo on large marble slabs. Other families opened fudge shops as well during this time, as the temperate climate conditions on the island are conducive to fudge making.

Gould sold the business in 1940, guaranteeing new owner Harold May the family would not compete in the candy business on the island for ten years, and May’s became the next big thing, fudge-wise.

In 1957, the name Murdick came back when Gould’s half brother Jerome Murdick opened a luncheonette on the island. As the non-compete clause had expired, he began selling fudge there, using the original family recipes. “Gould is the one who made it into the fudge business as we know it,” said Doug Murdick, Henry’s great-grandson and owner of two Traverse City fudge shops.

“It became a big thing because people liked the product,” he added, equating it to the popularity of saltwater taffy in Atlantic City. And as more businesspeople saw the success others were having, they wanted a piece of the pie, err, fudge.

Of course, Murdick’s and May’s aren’t the only fudge companies holding forth in the region. In 1947 Don and Katy Kilwin opened a bakery and candy shop in Petoskey. A couple decades later, they realized their first love, chocolates and candy, could do the trick alone, and they sold the bakery.

People were noticing downstate as well. In 1956, a popcorn and confection store in Detroit began making fudge and branded it Mackinac Island Fudge. Four years later, the family made it legitimate, moving to Mackinac Island and changing the name to Ryba’s Fudge Shops.

While most of the fudge was either plain chocolate or chocolate with nuts, Ryba’s had observed firsthand how General Motors had surpassed Ford by offering a variety of models while Ford sold just the Model T. So the company began selling 14 separate flavors and varieties of fudge.

The lure of fudge continued to escalate, as entrepreneurs realized the phenomenon could be duplicated throughout the region. Kilwin’s hastened the process, as new owners Wayne and Lorene Rose began expanding into new stores; that process accelerated in the mid-90s when Don and Robin McCarty bought the operation.

Today you can’t walk more than a block on the island without running into a fudge shop, such as Murdick’s, May’s, JoAnn’s, Ryba’s, all of which fan the scent thoughout the streets.

FROM MACKINAC TO CADILLAC

Today it’s not just a Mackinac Island thing. From Traverse City to Petoskey, Manistee to Suttons Bay, fudge shops dot the landscape.

Various offspring of the original Murdicks opened shops across the region. Doug Murdick opened Doug Murdick’s Fudge in 1964 in downtown Traverse City. A year later, he opened a shop in Acme; they’re now operated largely by his daughter Debbie. His son Dale took over the store in Leland and opened Murdick’s Fudge Shoppe in Suttons Bay. Other Murdick family members own fudge stores in other locations.

Growing up in Frankfort, Bissell recalls pressing his nose against the front window at Kilwin’s. He was enthralled watching the fudgemakers with their paddles stirring the cooling mixture on the marble-topped tables.

“I frequented it as a kid, and saw people making the fudge. It was fascinating,” he said. He began working there while in school, and after graduating from Grand Valley returned again, and bought the business.

“I was looking at three years of grad school (for physical therapy) or I could be a contributing member of society,” he said.

He said his experience at the store has been even better than he hoped. “It’s a blast. We get people from all over the world, some from places they don’t even make fudge.”

With so many shops scattered around the region, it’s safe to say that fudge is one of the region’s biggest employers. Bissell said his Frankfort store employs 12 people, and it’s one of the smallest ones. “There are hundreds of people (in the business),” Bissell said.

Becky Goodman of Petoskey Downtown said they are in the middle of fudge there, with two stores downtown and the Kilwin’s headquarters on the north side. “You see people around town with it all the time,” she said. “Kilwin’s is huge in fudge all over the country.”

Of course, northern Michigan doesn’t start at Petoskey or even Traverse City, and neither does the region’s fudge reputation. The Noteware Candy Company in Manistee started with caramels before branching into fudge. In Cadillac, the Sweet Shop has been churning out the delectable treat for over 50 years.

TOURISM FLAVORED BY FUDGE

Doug Murdick says tastes have changed over the years. “Thirty or 40 years ago, I used to say if we were out of chocolate pecan we were out of fudge. The younger generation has gotten away from nutmeats, and my son Dale told me we were making more plain chocolate than anything,” he said.

The Sweet Shop offers the usual varieties, but gets creative too: Among its offerings are root beer fudge, caramel apple fudge, even watermelon fudge with chocolate chip “seeds.”

FAME SPREAD FAR AND WIDE

The Daily Meal is one of the leading food websites, producing culinary content across the culinary spectrum, from food to drink. It boasts a worldwide team that produces more content than any other resource.

Last year it named America’s Top 25 fudge shops, and eight of them hailed from northern Michigan. Actually more than that, as it included all the Kilwin’s and all the Murdick’s stores as one entry each.

While cherries are certainly ubiquitous in everything from salads and salad dressings to desserts, fudge isn’t that far behind.

Northern Latitudes Distillery produces its own Mackinac Island Fudge Liqueur, which the company calls its Goldilocks liqueur...not too bitter and not too sweet, but just right.

Fudgies? Absolutely. For northern Michigan, it’s part of history, and a badge of honor.