Oh, fudge!

BUSHKILL - “Making 2,000 pounds of fudge a year at home is no easy job,” said Joan Bjornson founder of “The Ultimate Sweet Tooth.” Bjornson bragged about the strength of her right arm as she rolled up her sleeve and flexed her arm muscle for the Courier. She said she gets that from having to constantly stir the fudge until the right consistency is reached. Then she pours it into oval-shaped containers with see-through lids and colorful fancy ribbons and it’s ready to be sold. “The whole fudge making process is a matter of feel and can’t be done with anything but years of know-how,” Bjornson remarked. She added, “I’ve been making fudge since I was a child. It takes a special skill to know just when the glaze on the cooking fudge is perfect to begin the next step. You can’t stop and I can’t have any help either. I do it all myself.” The Ultimate Sweet Tooth makes over 100 varieties of fudge from Classic Chocolate to Papaya Passion and a world of flavors in between. When she married her husband Jon, who cannot eat chocolate, she had to come up with something he would like and so she began experimenting to make new flavors. Truffles, Chocolate Bark, chocolate-covered pretzels and fudge topping for ice cream are a few of the other candy specialties that The Ultimate Sweet Tooth concocts. Over the years she has also tweaked her packaging methods by using fancy boxes and colorful foil wrappers. She said, “People taste with their eyes and if it looks good, they’ll buy it.” Bjornson typically displays and sells 12 to 14 flavors of fudge at fine art shows and craft fairs in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The fudge making season begins in early October and continues through mid-December. She takes a break till the beginning of February and continues on till mid-May when the weather turns too warm for fudge making. She purchases fine chocolate in 50 pound blocks or loose chunks and makes six to nine pounds of a particular flavor at a time. She will also make special flavors in a minimum of three-pound batches for customers. Most of her sales come from the shows she attends, word of mouth or her Web site www.ultimatesweettooth.com. She ships fudge all over the world. Between making fudge and another pasttime, making jewelry, Bjornson has little time left for making dinner, “Thank goodness Jon doesn’t mind cooking because after a day of making fudge, I don’t want to even look at a stove,” she said.