HOW about this for a sweet idea? French Canadian ex-pat Terry Arsenault has set-up a fudge-making firm - and it's based in his kitchen!

Using a special recipe handed down by his grandmother, Mr Arsenault has launched the Acadian Fudge Company from his home in Penrith Road, Basingstoke.

Mr Arsenault, who came to England in 1994, started making fudge as a hobby, but his sugar-affair escalated and the fudge business boomed.

He said: "So many of my friends who tasted the fudge said I should go into business so I decided to give it a try."

Mr Arsenault, a professional musician, who plays the fiddle with the band Atlantic Bridge, is also a tai chi teacher.

He, and his wife Penny, are also travel writers.

The Acadian Fudge Company was born out of a telephone conversation with his sister, reminiscing about the fudge their grandmother and mother always made, and Mr Arsenault bemoaning the fact that he could get nothing like it in the UK.

To compensate, he had some home-made fudge shipped transatlantic especially.

He said: "I couldn't get enough of it until eventually my sister gave me the recipe and suggested I made it myself."

It took several months for Mr Arsenault to perfect his fudge-making and develop new flavours.

In the early days, he said, much of the fudge ended up in the wheelie bin - but not now!

He also had to design eye-catching packaging and have that made before he could go into small-scale production last Christmas.

As the festive season looms once again, Mr Arsenault's production has become more commercial.

It even includes Christmas pudding fudge, which has cognac-soaked raisins and Greek cinnamon as ingredients.

The Arsenault family recipe has produced a melt-in-the-mouth crumbly textured fudge and the secret is all in the ingredients, the timing, the temperature and the stirring, explains Mr Arsenault.

He added: "The main difference is that I don't use tinned, condensed milk, glucose or vegetable oils that other fudge makers tend to use in their products.

"My recipe has fresh cream, butter and sugar - this is more difficult to get right, but well worth the effort.

"I also use only the finest natural ingredients for flavour, including pure Canadian maple syrup, of course."

Now he has supplied Fortnum and Mason, the London store renowned for its delicacies, with 100 packs, which were sold as part of a Canadian Inuit promotion.

Supermarket giant Waitrose has also been in touch and asked for samples of the sweet treat.

The businessman expects to sell around 2,000 packs of his fudge, especially the Christmas pudding flavour, in the build-up to the festive season.

He is personally visiting Christmas craft and gift fairs, sometimes even taking his fiddle to build up the atmosphere and drum up some business. Local retailers are also responding well to his family fudge recipe, including Oil and Vinegar in Festival Place, the Manydown Farm Shop, Griggs and other outlets in nearby villages.

Now Mr Arsenault's plan is to make a special fudge workstation for his kitchen.

These elaborate plans include the installation of a new copper pan, so the Acadian Fudge Company can increase its production to more than 100 packs a day.