Employment Opportunities | For the Media

Wisconsin Dairyland Fudge Co. of Wisconsin Dells was the winner of a ribbon award for highest quality at the recent candy merchandising and idea clinic in Chicago in conjunction with the 66th annual convention of the Retail Confectioners. Jane Heller of the Dells candy makers accepted the award from candy clinic chairman Eddy Taylor. (Reprinted from local paper - Wisconsin Dells Events)

BUSTING DIETS OF SWEET SORROW FOR CANDYMAKERS by John Weiss (Reprinted from Post-Bulletin)

Violet Kalamarz's philosophy about her work is elementary - "If you are going to ruin your diet, you may as well ruin it on good chocolate." Included in the diets that were sacrificed to good chocolate was Kalamarz's. Of course, when she's as close to chocolate temptation as she is, it's totally understandable. She is one of the candy makers at Wisconsin Dairyland Fudge, an operation in downtown Wisconsin Dells that is owned by Jane Heller.

One nice weekday afternoon, Kalamarz was busy making English Toffee, her favorite. She would take small squares of the toffee and put them on a small conveyor belt that delicately plopped them into a bath of warm milk chocolate then out again. Kalamarz would then use a special fork to lift each off the conveyor belt and put it on a bed of crushed nuts. Her efforts were not behind a wall, they were open for customers to see, even to people walking by because she sits next to the front window. And she loves it. Children come in to see candy made perhaps for the first time in their lives. She says she has visited with a lot of nice people in the eight years she's been here.

Heller, the owner, said her father began one shop in the early 1960's selling four kinds of fudge "out of a window," like a Dairy Queen. The four kinds of fudge have been expanded to salt water taffy, peanut brittle, chocolates, sugarless candies and other candy. Most of it is hand made on the premises.

Owning businesses in the Dells means having to make your living in six hectic months when the bulk of tourists are there. It really gets your adrenalin going…it's a big push in those six months. At times, working in downtown Dells is so hectic she questions her sanity. "There are those days when I ask, why am I doing this," she said.

Fudge Made the Natural Way

Wisconsin Dells-You have all tasted mother's homemade fudge as a child. Since then, you have most likely been exposed to many other brands of fudge some of which may have tasted fairly good and some that did not. At Swiss Maid Fudge you will experience the taste of fudge made with natural ingredients just like mother used to make. "Miss Swiss" and her "maids" have made and sold over thousands of pounds of fudge! In spite of this feat, most people could not compliment them enough on the outstanding, creamy texture and rich flavor of their fudge (and this includes a well-known Chicago candy maker).

Only natural ingredients go into Swiss Maid Fudge-100% Wisconsin butter, cream, and natural chocolate. The fudge is made the old European way with the copper kettle-the heat applied to the copper kettle, the mix made directly in front of you and cooled on a water-cooled slab to be shaped into a delicious fudge and served in a quality that cannot be beat.

Many companies were found to use butter-flavor enhancers, exotic mixing techniques, and outright deception that today represents little of the original recipes of the early 1900's. Swiss Maid Fudge continues the old-fashioned flavor with a superior taste.