Is divinity fudge a Southern thang (sic)? Long ago, we had a

[raccoon]

minister's wife who made divinity fudge....to die for....

I know you can buy it at Cracker Barrel, but I've refrained so far.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

1. I don't know but, the stuff is divine

:9

[nolabear]

2. Well, sugar cane does grow well in the South, so it's a food group.

I actually don't like divinity that much but don't leave me alone with pecan pralines.

[Liberal Veteran]

3. Divinity and praline and ambrosia and pecan pie were our holiday desert staples.

My blood sugar just went through the roof thinking about it.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

4. ambrosia is the food of the gods

:9

[Liberal Veteran]

5. Ours was always somewhere between a fruit salad and fruit cocktail.

It wasn't quite thick enough to think of it at as a tropical fruit salad and it wasn't cloying like fruit cocktail (which tends to be syrupy).

But I do remember we always used fresh coconut (which is about the only way I even like coconut anymore).

[Tuesday Afternoon]

8. gross.

never mind.

that is NOT what we call Ambrosia where I live.

the ambrosia we made was very time consuming using only fresh ingredients


fresh oranges (mandarin or clementine)

and

fresh coconut that we shredded.

also, I think we added chopped walnuts that we had cracked and chopped ourselves.

and there was perhaps a dollop of creme fraiche stirred in.

This was the dish of the gods.

[Bake]

6. We didn't call it fudge, just divinity.

Growing up in TN. My mother, BTW, made a heckuva divinity!!

Gonna cry now.

:hi:

Bake

[dawg]

9. Just "divinity" here in Georgia too.

Too sweet to be eaten in large quantities, but delicious.

[RebelOne]

11. I live in Georgia and have never tried the stuff.

If I see it on the shelves, maybe I will.

[Bake]

7. And oh, yes ... it IS a Southern thing.

And it's wonderful.

:hi:

Bake

[Kali]

10. oooo

I've never had homemade. We used to get divinity (never called it fudge either) at Stuckey's.

and pecan log rolls which had divinity in the middle (with little bits of cherry)

[trof]

12. Stuckeys!

I always wanted the rubber tom-tom (on a family vacation road trip) and my mom would NEVER get me one.
Wonder why?

I did score the rubber tomahawk.
It was woefully ineffective for the things I had in mind.
;-)

Loved the pecan rolls.

[Kali]

14. I always wanted to get one of the "mystery gifts"

remember? wrapped in blue and white striped paper "worth at least $2 more" than what you paid for it :rofl:

[dimbear]

13. We had divinity in Montana. It gets around.

I think the appeal is mostly to the younger set.....

[nolabear]

15. My mouth is actually watering.

[Kat45]

16. I'm up north. What is it?

I never heard of it.

[jobycom]

19. Basically, it's exactly what it's called--divinity.

It's a confection made with sugar and corn syrup and egg whites. Some heretics add nuts or fruit to it, but when those heretics are caught they are severely punished and their right to ever cook again is revoked. There is debate on that point, sadly.

It's one of those candies, like fudge, where the ingredients have to be prepared properly for it to work, and it's easier to mess up than make properly. You heat the sugar and corn oil until it reaches ball-forming temperature, then mix half of into beaten eggs while letting the other half continue to heat. When it reaches soft-crack stage, you blend the remaining stuff into the egg white mixture, and if you do it right, it will suddenly turn firm and shiny. If you do it wrong, you will have a very sweet-tasting, gooey mess. I've never actually made anything but the gooey mess, but I've seen it done right. :)

Then you drop it onto a cookie sheet and let it set. It can be eaten warm, but to me, it's best when it's cooled to room temp. It should send shudders and shivers through your nerve system when you taste it.

Humidity ruins it, as does altitude, so you can't make it on a rainy day, and some places it just doesn't make at all. It's not only in the South, I think it's just more common in the South because it's similar to pralines and pecan pie (if you've ever made pecan pie), so Southerners are more likely to know how to make it and have the ingredients around.

And the commercial stuff can be good, but it's never exactly right.

[Rowdyboy]

17. I remember mom crying because her divinity failed because of the humidity.....

I was 8 at the time and absolutely heartbroken

on edit: it was still delicious, just gloopy and sticky

[jobycom]

20. Fallen Divinity, a woman at my church called it, when it comes out wrong.

Poetry in cooking. :)

And yeah, I went to church when I was a kid. :)

[jobycom]

18. The Cracker Barrel stuff will just make you want the real stuff.

It's not bad, there's just no way they can make it fresh enough. Same with the Stuckey's version.

And fresh, real divinity is possibly the greatest taste in the universe, except for really, really good New Orleans style pralines. I had one last weekend in New Orleans... You shouldn't eat them while driving, unless you can drive and orgasm at the same time.

And wash the praline down with a Barq's Root Beer (in a bottle from New Orleans or Biloxi, not the canned or plastic stuff you get everywhere). If I ever have a choice of last meals, I think that will be it.