Sweet Tooth

It is fair to say that generally Cambodians have a sweet tooth. They add lashings of condensed milk in coffee & automatically put sugar in everything including black coffee, soup, savoury foods & even drinks which have had condensed milk added to them already.

You'd think this would therefore mean that they would appreciate the western delicacy of fudge.

Apparently not!

J, on request, gave K & I a master class in fudge making last weekend. She has been making fudge since she could stand on a stool in her Aunty's kitchen. K & I wanted to replicate a small piece of home and learn the fine art of fudge making from a master.

S - her landlady & khmer teacher - happened to be at J's house for the lesson & was horrified to see the amount of sugar, butter & condensed milk poured in to the pan but soon grew impatient about the amount of beating & cooling required before the mixture could be poured out. She began to tell J what she should do, despite having never seen fudge before let alone make it. This is not an uncommon occurrence.

Later S confided in J that she was worried that J would become diabetic because she was making fudge. J - a size 10/12 - has learnt a long time ago that rationalising or using logic doesn't generally work with S or most Cambodians.

We were given the final result to take home before our own attempt to replicate it. A khmer friend of K's visited & was offered her first testing of fudge. She immediately spat it out saying it was too sweet & if she ate even one small piece of it she would become fat like me.

Needless to say K & I went on to sit & eat half of batch of J's fudge in one seating.

Meanwhile S & every other Cambodian will continue to put multiple heaped table spoons of sugar &/or condensed milk into all drinks & food without giving it any further thought but they don't like fudge because its too sweet... more for us I say!

Master class

Sugary, bubbling loveliness

The 'Ball'-test

Creamy deliciousness

High fat, high sugar - just the way we like it in Cambodia