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Who Invented the Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich?

23 points| b3morales | 4 years ago |nationalpeanutboard.org

32 comments

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[+] ncmncm|4 years ago|reply
I recently found out that when scientists want to study hardening of arteries, they feed peanuts to rabbits. Something in peanuts causes artery disease like nothing else going.

I switched wholesale to almond butter.

I daresay kids would like almond butter just as much as peanut butter. Trader Joe's organic almond butter is pretty good, better than what I find at supermarkets. (Be sure to check that you are getting the salted variety.)

[+] entropicgravity|4 years ago|reply
I doubt rabbits are a good model for peanut butter in humans. Rabbits seem to restrict their diet to salads whereas humans are omnivores. Also, kids in north america at least, eat a ton of peanut butter and if there was a problem its very likely that epidemiology studies would have sussed this out by now.
[+] numair|4 years ago|reply
Wow, if that’s true, it’s the first time I’ve ever heard of it — and it seems like something that ... A lot of people might need to know? Can we lazyweb into some citations and more data on that?
[+] 11thEarlOfMar|4 years ago|reply
My friend's mom used to make peanut butter and tomato sandwiches. Sliced tomato, some salt and peanut butter. I can remember thinking they were pretty good for a while, but after a few encounters, the thought started to kill my apetite.

This was in Illinois in the 70s, I never knew whether it was unique to that family, but I checked around and it's a thing:

https://www.clermontsun.com/2011/07/08/the-origin-of-the-tom...

http://mormonfoodie.blogspot.com/2011/04/peanut-butter-and-t...

[+] RobotCaleb|4 years ago|reply
I never understood peanut butter and jelly, but I absolutely love peanut butter and pickle. I'm not sure how I feel about peanut butter and tomato
[+] User23|4 years ago|reply
My dad would make open face peanut butter and cheddar melts. They were incredibly good. Nobody I've ever told believes me though.
[+] ok_dad|4 years ago|reply
Now this is a great topic for HN! I feed so much PB&J to my kid because they won't eat anything else, and it's got a really good taste and nutrition profile for growing children who are picky.

The best peanut butter is just made from peanuts and maybe a little salt; forget that sugar filled crap, find the good "natural" brand that has, "Ingredients: peanuts, salt" and it'll change your peanut butter life forever!

[+] b3morales|4 years ago|reply
I agree; if you have a food processor I can also recommend just making your own. It takes ~10 minutes a batch (though cleaning the machine by hand is a bit annoying, a dishwashing machine does it easily). You can make it taste exactly how you want and never have to deal with oil separation again.
[+] tmnvix|4 years ago|reply
Have you tried peanut butter and cheese sandwiches?

My mum used to pack peanut butter and honey sandwiches for my school lunches. As a five-year-old, my dentist suggested peanut butter and cheese. Still eating them to this day. Though it has to be crunchy peanut butter.

[+] flatiron|4 years ago|reply
trader joes is my fav peanut butter.

that being said, my kids love it, but can only eat it on weekends. our schools are strict no nuts. i asked if anyone actually had a peanut allergy and they said they didn't know, its just a policy.

[+] dredmorbius|4 years ago|reply
Google's Ngram Viewer is a wonderful tool for tracking the evolution of concepts such as this.

It does support an early 20th-century origin of the PB&J sandwich, and a rise in prevalence during WWII, though the real climb appears to start in the 1960s, presumably with mass-advertised grocery products.

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=peanut+butter+...

[+] vidanay|4 years ago|reply
More importantly....should the layer of PB be thin like Marmite, or should it be 1/4" thick? (I am definitely in the thick layer camp)
[+] Cerium|4 years ago|reply
The peanut butter should be on both slices of bread forming an oil envelope around the jelly or jam. The peanut butter won't make the bread soggy, and will protect the bread until lunch time.
[+] ryanchants|4 years ago|reply
Peanut butter: thick, my dad always called my PB&J's "choke sandwiches" because it was layered on so thick.

Jelly: very thin layer, adding just a bit of flavor

[+] anamax|4 years ago|reply
There's another axis - is the peanut butter and jelly mixed before it's put on the bread?
[+] daneel_w|4 years ago|reply
I don't know. Who invented the cheese and orange marmalade sandwich?
[+] codeulike|4 years ago|reply
Jelly is Jam in UK speak, right?
[+] b3morales|4 years ago|reply
Jelly and jam are distinct on both sides of the pond, I believe. They're both fruit preserves but jelly is strained to not contain solid pieces of of fruit.

That said, you can also make a PB&J with jam.

[+] scoot|4 years ago|reply
Not exactly. US Jelly is more like UK Jelly (US Jello), but less viscous, yet spread like jam.

I would call US Jelly "fruit flavoured", with a high water content, no fruit solids, and occasionally even artificial fruit flavours; whereas jam is typically around 2/3 real fruit (before boiling), 1/3 sugar, with no added water, so has a denser and more "lumpy" texture.

Jelly also often comes in flavours not associated with Jam, like grape for example. (See also KoolAid, which is the US equivalent of Squash, but powdered, and also "watery" when made to manufactures instructions).