PROVOST, Alta. — A Hughenden, Alta., mother pops into the Sweet and Healthy store to buy heavenly goo fudge with $5 from each of her children.
“They love her fudge. When we go to the fair, we have to go there first,” said Jennifer Johnson.
Store owner Shelley Adolfson proceeds to weigh and wrap the soft sweet treat, one of dozens she makes in her shop in Provost, Alta.
A steady dribble of customers arrives throughout the midday, some to buy fudge and others to pore over the shelves of herbs, vitamins, alternative medicines, small appliances and bakewear.
Read Also
Agri-business and farms front and centre for Alberta’s Open Farm Days
Open Farm Days continues to enjoy success in its 14th year running, as Alberta farms and agri-businesses were showcased to increase awareness on how food gets to the dinner plate.
“You have to do both to survive,” she said of her small town business.
In addition, Adolfson sells at more than a dozen trade and craft shows in Alberta and Saskatchewan throughout the year and hosts school and other groups in the shop. They make fudge novelties poured into moulds such as a tie for Father’s Day or Christmas tree in December.
She also takes orders for special events, once creating a saskatoon fudge for a saskatoon themed wedding.
The shop also regularly brings in an alternative health practitioner, who practises there for free in exchange for treating the Adolfsons.
Fudge making is a family affair. She gets help from her mother, Iva Jean Wagner, who also takes care of the shop when Adolfson and her husband, Brett, hit the road. Their twin teenaged daughters also help out where needed.
The former licensed journeyman parts person moved from North Battleford, Sask., to Alberta for Brett’s work.
Adolfson said fudge making takes practice and finesse as it tastes different hot than cold. It is also affected by fluctuating moisture levels.
“If there’s not enough moisture in the winter, it turns the fudge hard as a rock,” said Adolfson.
Any leftover bits during processing find new life, she said.
“There’s not a lot of waste because you can take scraps and put them in a bucket and make a new flavour,” she said.
The fudge is cooked, wrapped and frozen, ready for counter sales or the next show.
Adolfson has her go-to recipes but has also worked with a chef in past. Her new flavour is creme brulee, but her personal favourite is chewy pralines. Rum and raisin is a poor seller and bubblegum is a no-no, perhaps due to people’s aversion to swallowing chewing gum, she said.
Adolfson eats little fudge but samples when creating new flavours.
“You get that you don’t even smell it anymore,” she said.
Adolfson enjoys the business because of the interaction with people.
She recalled a girlfriend whose husband mistook orange cream fudge in their fridge for cheese, slicing and topping his toast with it.
Another story comes from one of her younger fudge fans who found the famed fudge of Disneyland paled in comparison to his hometown favourite.
She sources her ingredients through a U.S. company, where she’s taken a hit with the loonie hovering near 91 cents, and markets through word of mouth and in the local newspaper. Her shop benefits from lower taxes, sitting one street away from the main business hub.
“The disadvantages are people can’t find you,” Adolfson said.
