Original Murdick’s Fudge (St. Ignace)
My kids know what’s up.
When I left them on Sunday to head home from the lake, both kid said, “good-bye. I love you. Bring home fudge.” I’m little shocked “bring home fudge” beat out “I love you in the order of things they said.
This week is my annual trip to Mackinac Island for work. I drove Monday night to a hotel in St. Ignace. I’ve stayed at the Best Western Dockside in Mackinac City for the last several years but this year, I decided to do something different. The Best Western Harbour Pointe Lakefront was cheaper (I like to save the company money whenever I can although I think it goes unappreciated) and I wanted to do something different. I had made trips to St. Ignace for pizza last year and I ate at Clyde’s Drive-In one year but I’ve never really looked around town to see what else was there.
I got to my hotel around 6:00 and got all my stuff in the room and started to set up a work station. I had lunch on my way up at Get Hooked at Curries in Big Rapids but I was starting to get hungry again. I also wanted to grab fudge and it’s just as easy to do that on the mainland where there aren’t as big of crowds.
I headed down the street from my hotel to Original Murdick’s Fudge. The small Mackinac Island fudge shop has three stores on Mackinac Island itself, one in Mackinaw City, this one in St. Ignace, and three in Massachusetts in Martha’s Vineyard.
The St. Ignace shop is one State Street near Central Hill across the street from East Moran Bay. This stretch of road is kind of St. Ignace’s “downtown” with a row of shops lining the south side of State Street. There is some street parking in front of the row of buildings as well as a parking lot in back of the shops off Chambers Alley. The shop has a look similar to the Mackinac Island shops with kind of an old time candy store look with a white storefront and the word “Fudge” much larger than the word “Murdick’s.”
The inside of the shop is really tight. There is a counter with fudge on one side, the candy making operation on the other side and a small, narrow walkway in between them for the customers. There was a group already in the store when I got there and they were oblivious to my presence. I kept getting pushed back towards the door because the space was tight and they were acting like I didn’t exist in the space.
The fudge is laid out in a display case already wrapped up in slices and ready to go. Each of the slices has a sign with the flavor underneath them so you can tell what is what. All of the fudge is either a chocolate, vanilla, or peanut butter base. There aren’t as many flavor options as some of the other fudge shops but they have most of the most sought after flavors.
There are also bags of brittle and taffy available on shelf that separates the candy making area from the public access. Neither are really my thing and my kids asked for fudge….not brittle.
The deal at Murdick’s is buy four slices and get the fifth free. That still comes out to $45 worth of fudge but I decided to do that because I was going to get four anyway. I picked two slices of chocolate, one slice of mint chocolate, one slice of vanilla, and one slice of vanilla with chocolate chips. I would have gotten the Double Chocolate Sea Salt Caramel but the tray was empty. There was a big log of it in the production area but the candymaker said it was still cooling and it wasn’t ready to slice yet. The five slices were boxed up neatly in to a box and handed over.
All of the Mackinac Island fudge pretty much tastes the same and I’m sure there are other places in St. Ignace to to get it. I’m sure I will check out some of those shops on future trips but on this one, I chose a Mackinac Island original. I know my kids cant’ wait for me to get home with the box…I’m sure it will be gone not long after I walk through the door.
SW Michigan Dining 