From chocolate chip cookies to brownies, tiramisu, or apple pie. Most of us have a treat that we turn to for a feeling of home or a feeling of comfort. For me, that is my grandma’s fudge recipe. Sweet, rich, and chocolatey smooth with a melt-in-your-mouth feel. Every year that I can remember, my grandma would make this fudge come holiday time. This recipe has been a family secret since my grandma’s grandma. As early as I can remember I cooked and baked with my grandma. “You can’t help quite yet,” she would tell me. “The sugar is too hot but pull up a stool and I’ll teach you.”  As I grew older, I began to help get ingredients ready and learn the recipe from watching the process. Eventually, my grandma began to step back and simply instruct me. There was a little bit of a learning curve, but I reached the point where I could be trusted to make all kinds of fudge. Each year I receive the honor of creating various different fudges with my grandma by my side. Not only do I get to connect with her while we spend hours in the kitchen standing over a stove, I get to connect with her mother and her mother before that. The sound of boiling sugar, the smell of melted chocolate, and the warmth that radiates off of each batch serve as a reminder of the warmth of love passed from generation to generation. As long as I am alive, it will be a recipe that stays within my family, and I hope to teach it to my children and their children just as my grandma did, just as her grandma did.

– Katie Peterson

Relationship:  Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more