October 14, 2020

Taffy Elrod

  • Share this story
  • Share How to Make Black Walnut Divinity Fudgeon Twitter
  • Share How to Make Black Walnut Divinity Fudgeon Instagram

How to Make Black Walnut Divinity Fudge

Three simple ingredients hold the history of a family and a place

As fall deepened into winter each year, my grandmother would make her special black walnut divinity fudge. The ritual would start when a paper sack of black walnuts would appear at the house—from where, I don’t know—and my grandmother would send my brother and me out to the back patio with a hammer to crack the shells. As we boiled maple syrup, beat egg whites, and added the black walnuts to the mixture with her, the earthy, astringent, and slightly dank aroma of the nuts took my grandmother back to the long-ago woods of her childhood.

How to Make Black Walnut Divinity Fudge - Quote

As we boiled maple syrup, beat egg whites, and added the black walnuts to the mixture with her, the earthy, astringent, and slightly dank aroma of the nuts took my grandmother back to the long-ago woods of her childhood

The divinity was my great-grandmother Eathel’s Depression-era creation, made from maple syrup, black walnuts, and eggs—ingredients that my great-grandparents produced and gathered themselves on their farm in central Michigan.

One year, my great-grandmother decided to send my grandma around to the neighbors to sell her homemade divinity. Maybe she thought the neighbors wouldn’t be able to refuse a young girl selling candies, or maybe she was too busy to sell them herself. Whatever her reason, her plan backfired. My grandmother had no success selling door-to-door and became tired of rejection. Afraid to return home with all of her divinity unsold, she devised a plan to hide her failure: she would eat the sweets herself. You can probably guess that it didn’t work. When she came home with no candy and no money, her mother was very unhappy. So in the end, my poor grandmother was doubly punished—by her mother and a terrible stomachache.

It’s amazing how three simple ingredients can hold the history of a family and a place. I don’t think I’ve made divinities since before my grandma passed away, which was the year I graduated from high school. Everything about them was so specific to her and her origins. The original version used only maple syrup, but I have adapted the recipe to make it more consistent. Save this for a cool, dry day, preferably when you’re expecting company. No one should eat a tray alone, and you might be tempted.

Black Walnut-Maple Divinity Fudge

Makes about 30 pieces

Ingredients
2 cups pure maple syrup
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup light corn syrup
¼ tsp. sea salt
2 large egg whites
1 cup chopped black walnuts

Preparation
Line a large tray with parchment paper or wax paper.

Place the maple syrup, sugar, corn syrup, and salt in a deep pan and stir to dissolve the sugar. Place the pan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Boil until the syrup reaches hard-ball stage, 250-260°F on a candy thermometer—so called because the syrup should form a hard ball when a small amount is dripped from a spoon into a glass of cold water. Maple syrup scorches easily, so be careful not to heat it past 260°F.

When the syrup is close to reaching the right temperature, beat the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer, using the whisk attachment on medium-low speed, until stiff peaks form. (Alternately, you can beat the whites by hand, but I recommend a mixer.)

When the syrup has reached hard-ball stage, turn the mixer up to medium speed. Very carefully pour a slow, thin stream of syrup into the egg whites while beating. When all the syrup is in the bowl, raise the mixer’s speed to medium-high and beat for another five minutes, or until the divinity begins to make ribbons that stretch from the sides of the bowl. When it is ready, it will look dull, almost like caulk.

Stir in the black walnuts. Working quickly, use two spoons to drop tablespoon-sized pieces onto the prepared tray. Don’t let them touch. They will dry as they cool. When ready, they should have an almost crisp outer shell with an interior that is slightly stretchy but melts easily on the tongue. You can store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a month.

Note: If you can’t find or forage black walnuts locally, you can order them from Hammons Black Walnuts, a Missouri company that has been selling them for decades.

Subscriptions

Thanks for checking us out!

We are now publishing on Substack—delivering new stories directly to your inbox.

Click here to subscribe to Midwesterner!