An exciting new fudge business has opened in Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight, bringing unique flavours made from local products.
The Isle of Wight Fudge Company, on Yarmouth Square, opened its doors for the first time on Easter Sunday.
Tim Winney and his wife Sally run the business, together with their two daughters, Lindsay and Alice.
The couple came all the way from the New Forest to make a dream a reality here on the Isle of Wight.
Tim has even bought a stove from Chicago, made by a company called Savage Brothers.
The pot is spun copper, which is perfect for making confectionary, as it allows one to cook to a very precise temperature.
“When it heats to the right temperature and we switch the power off, it doesn’t get any hotter,” said Tim.
“And that’s very important. It also conducts the heat better, so it uses less energy and cooks quicker.
“Once the fudge reaches the right temperature, we throw it onto a marble table which retains the heat of the fudge.
“This means the fudge slowly cools down, allowing us to crew it by hand for much longer than you would if you were stewing it in a steel pot.
“The table weighs 300 kilograms and is the only one on the Island specifically marbled for this process.
“It took six of us to carry it in!
“Once we’ve paddled the fudge by hand on the table, we loaf it into a long baguette and slice it.
“The whole process takes about an hour and a half, and I make about five or six batches a day.
“We’ve been open for four weeks and we’ve sold nearly 1,000 kilograms of fudge.
“A lot of holidaymakers have supported us, but what’s been overwhelming is the support we’ve had from local residents, coming from all over the Island.
“It’s an authentic flavour. We only use the Isle of Wight double cream and butter.
“It was originally going to be a lifestyle business for my wife and I, but we’ve employed four staff already.”
Before launching the business, Tim had been making fudge on and off for around ten years.
He perfected the recipe and the technique during lockdown and moved to the Island in November of last year.
“We always fancied living on the Island, and we saw this little shop for sale, and now we’ve just bought a house in Yarmouth,” said Tim.
“We had the keys to the shop just after Christmas and we were able to open up on Easter Sunday.
“It’s all about the people in Yarmouth, it’s so inclusive.
“While we’re retailing fudge, we’ve also become an attraction.
“People come here to see the fudge being made, all the ingredients we use, and we designed the shop for that.
“The copper kettle is phenomenal. It was a big investment for us, but we wanted to make fudge properly, in an authentic way.
“Our customers love watching us pouring the fudge out onto the table.”
Tim’s unique flavours of fudge include dark and salty (Belgian plain chocolate with a hint of sea salt), rum and raisin (raisins soaked in dark rum for three days), coffee (southern roast triple espresso coffee), and peanut butter.
He also plans to make nougat and candied nuts in the future.
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