KILLER FUDGE

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KILLER FUDGE
2700 70th ST Sw
NAPLES, FL 34105

Registered by:

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Lucia Gina M
P2700 70TH ST SW
NAPLES, FL 34105

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Business located at coordinates: 26.179047, -81.748846

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Other info:
Sweet Tooth by Erin Daly

In a small, unassuming plaza off Vanderbilt Drive in Bonita Springs sits Killer Fudge. Inside the store, baskets and cases overflow with goodies, and signs posted behind the counter provide advice including, "The future is uncertain. Eat your chocolate first," and "The best things in life are chocolate."

Owner Gina Lucia opened the store last November after the original location in Fantozzi's on Third Street South took off. "Fudge was always something I loved to make," Lucia says. "I used to make it with my grandmother, and I always thought how great it would be to have a candy store." Killer Fudge shares a space with Royal Scoop Homemade Ice Cream, so not only can you have your candy, but you can eat your ice cream too.

Killer Fudge offers six kinds of fudge all year and additional specialty fudges during the holiday season. Their most popular fudge is Key lime, a creamy treat that also comes in dark chocolate-coated truffles. "There's a soft and creamy fudge and there's a grainy, harder fudge," Lucia says. With its melt-in-your-mouth quality, her fudge falls into the first category. "A lot of people prefer the grainier fudge, because it is more like what their grandmother used to make. But that is actually the result of cooking it too long and stirring too much after it reaches its correct boiling point," Lucia explains. "Fudge is an exact science."

She gives the same attention to detail in her many chocolate-covered products: sandwich cookies, pretzel rods and caramel apples.

To explain the science behind chocolate, Lucia started Chocolate 101, monthly sessions that allow participants to taste 19 of the world's finest chocolates while learning about the many factors - from the soil the beans are grown in to the processing methods that are used - which influence the flavor of the final product.

Lucia creates all the fudge recipes that she sells. "I make a batch, write down everything I put in it and then try it," she says. If she doesn't like it, she throws out the whole batch. "And I have to make it in 20-pound batches because if you make a small test batch and then increase the proportions, it doesn't come out the same. So I've thrown away hundreds of pounds of fudge."

She is developing chocolate bars and fudge infused with flavors such as coconut, pineapple and orange. "I have a weakness for really good chocolate," Lucia admits. "I love to see the finished product, and I love to see people eat it. Candy and chocolate make people happy. It's like you're in the happiness business."

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Keywords: NAPLES,34105,business,70Th St Sw,geo