What Is The Difference Between Fudge and Chocolate?

Sometimes you might be thinking about the difference between Fudge and chocolate. In general, Chocolate is a type of fudge, but not all fudges are chocolates.

Fudge has a finer granular texture than chocolate does. The main ingredient in fudge is sugar whereas the main ingredient in chocolate is finely ground cocoa beans, which usually contain some sugar as well as emulsifiers and milk solids if it’s milk chocolate.

Cocoa beans contain roughly 50% fat (cocoa butter) and 50% solids, so when you finish making your fudge or cooking your recipe for fudge, you will have just created a thickened liquid emulsion of all those solid ingredients suspended in that fat.

Texture of Fudge and Chocolate

fudge and chocolate have differences in their textures and structures. chocolate’s texture is smooth, soft, and shiny like plastic.

fudges are generally softer at room temperature but will quickly become less malleable as they cool while chocolates tend to retain their shape at room temperature.

fudge melts quickly in your mouth whereas chocolate will slowly melt and coat the inside of your mouth with its flavor if it is high-quality dark chocolate or milk chocolates.

fudges are usually softer, whereas you can snap a piece off from most types of chocolate without it breaking easily leaving behind crumbs like fudge generally does.

Color

fudge has many different colors depending upon what flavors were added to make that particular fudge recipe, for example, raspberry fudge would be pink/red colored, etc.; whereas all chocolates have basically one color but may vary based on percentages used for each individual cocoa butter variety (cocoa beans).

Chocolate comes in many different shades including white, brown, pink, etc. fudge is usually a lighter color but again flavors can change that depending upon what type of fudge you are making.

Texture vs Color

chocolate has both smooth and soft texture as well as being shiny whereas fudges have more grainy/gritty textures so they also tend to be slightly less glossy than chocolate.

However, it really depends on the fudge recipe or if cocoa butter was used in your particular fudge recipe because some recipes do use cocoa butter instead of vegetable oil which would give fudges that oily feel just like dark chocolate does when eaten for example.

Making Procedure

Generally, Fudge is made by cooking butter and milk, and sugar together, then adding your other fudge ingredients such as chocolate chips or nuts to the fudge mixture. Because of this, fudge goes under the category of confectionery.

Chocolate-making procedures are very similar but you would add any additional dry cocoa powder flavors directly into your cooking sugar/milk mix before you boiled it all together. Because of it, chocolate goes to a different category than fudge.

Ingredients and Flavorings

fudge is usually flavored by adding ingredients such as chocolate chips, nuts, or other fudge flavors that could be any number of things including peanut butter fudge.

chocolate fudges are generally made with cocoa powder and not much else whereas dark chocolates can have a plethora of flavor mix-ins from vanilla to hazelnuts.

Health Value

fudge has a higher calorie count because fudges can have heavy cream added to them while chocolates generally don’t include the high percentage of milk solids that fudge does.

However, fudges are usually less sweet than chocolate so they may be healthier for you in small doses depending upon your tolerances and sugar needs.

Conclusion

Chocolate and fudge are both made with sugar, but they differ in texture. Fudge is a type of caramel that contains tiny sugar crystals (fine granular) while chocolate has a gritty feel. The main ingredients for each product also vary; cocoa beans for chocolate and sugar for fudge.

In fudge chocolate can be used as an ingredient but on chocolate, Fudge can’t be used as an ingredient. So there is a relation between fudge and chocolate. Chocolate is a type of fudge, not all fudge is chocolate.

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