For years, Idaho's claim to fame - the potato - has been used humbly. You could bake 'em, boil 'em, fry 'em, and mash 'em.
More recently, you could even use them in ice cream and gasoline. But now, thanks to the innovative efforts of one woman, you can taste the sweet rewards of transforming potatoes into candy.Spud Fudge is the latest rage for candy lovers. Molded in the form of a true Idaho baker, the foil-wrapped Spud Fudge comes topped with sour cream and a pat of butter.
Credit for Spud Fudge goes to Sandee Tuck, a cake decorator who has been making candy and other specialities for the past four years.
"I've had so many flubs," Tuck says as she recalls the numerous attempts to incorporate cooked potatoes into her recipe for creamy, smooth fudge. "The first batch was pretty bad, and the second and third batches weren't so great."
Through trial and error over the next week, the experimentation paid off.
Tuck concocted a palatable formula which was immediately devoured by a helpful neighbor who acted as "guinea pig."
Ingredients for Spud Fudge are not mystical - milk chocolate, dark and white chocolate, sugar, brown sugar, potatoes, evaporated milk, corn syrup, vanilla, salt and coloring - but they work.
Tuck uses either cooked potatoes or instant potatoes to replace a portion of the sugar ordinarily used.
She did not envision a baked potato as the end product of her newfound recipe. Last March Tuck says she was trying to dip the candy in chocolate to resemble Easter eggs, but the results were not what she expected.
"It looked so retarded, I thought, `Oh my gosh - it looks like a potato!"'
The name came naturally then, and Tuck used white chocolate for the candy's sour cream icing topped with a pat of yellow dyed fudge to represent butter. The resulting Spud Fudge has been so successful, the demand has Tuck and her family spending up to 19 hours a day cranking out batch after batch of the delicacies.
Debbie Thomas, manager of the Made In Idaho store in Twin Falls' Magic Valley Mall attests to the fact that Tuck's chocolate potatoes are a hit with the consumers.
"People go nuts over it," Thomas says.
The novelty of the candy makes people buy it the first time and the wonderful taste brings them back again and again, Thomas said.
"This is just an accident that has gone well for me," Tuck said.