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Peanut Butter & Jelly
62 Points, 2 List, Highest Vote: #5 @RT-55J & @SabreCat
Source: The Culinary World
Duo-Type: Only one is still allowed in schools.
Peanut butter is a spread made of ground, dry-roasted peanuts. Usually some forms of salt, sweeteners and emulsifiers are added to it for flavour and textures. Many people have credited George Washington Carver with the invention of peanut butter but in fact many forms of peanut butter existed prior to the publication of How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing it For Human Consumption (though it certainly helped growing in popularity.) References to peanut butter can be traced back to Aztec and Inca civilizations with modern peanut butter being patented in 1884 by Montreal chemist Marcellus Gilmore Edson. Ten years later it was sold as a snack food by George Bayle of St. Louis and it gained popularity during the first World War due to food rationing. Since then, many brands have popped up such as Peter Pan, Skippy and Jif.
Jelly is a fruit preserve spread that is very similar to jam, except the fruit pulp is filtered out in the cooking process. The jellied consistency is shared with the same-named dessert “jelly”. Quinces, redcurrants and apples are preferred for their high pectin quality but in the US, the most popular include strawberries or Concord grapes. Some jellies, like redcurrant and mint jelly, are popular spreads on meaty, savoury foods but in general they are most popular as a sandwich or toast spread.
Peanut Butter and jelly, AKA PB & J, is a combination of the two spreads, usually in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It can be served between two slices of breads, in a folded slice of bread or as an open-faced sandwich if you are truly mad. The sandwich is especially popular among children as a lunch or snack, with a 2002 survey conveying that the average American eats 1,500 PB & Js before graduating from high school, at which point they immediate switch to an all-ramen diet (or Kraft Dinner, if Canadian, or Kraft Dinner with ketchup, if Dire Canadian).
Due to the nature of the jelly, it has the potential to make the bread soggy, especially when it is sent to school for lunches. One strategy is to PB both slices of break and put the jelly between, as the problem is the jelly moisture rather than the peanut butter. It does create a new problem where the jam oozes out, but if you can seal the ends, then you got something going. Initially, peanut butter was more likely to be served with savory foods such as “pimento, cheese, celery, Worcestershire sauce, watercress, saltines and toasted crackers” according to Wikipedia. The first known peanut butter and jelly sandwich recipe Boston Cooking School Magazine where it used three slices of bread with the middle one acting as a barrier between the two spreads. When the price of peanut butter went down and became more affordable, the sandwich started to gain popularity and became a kids’ standard in the 1920s and in WWII, it also became a ration standard for soldiers.
With more caution regarding peanut allergies in school, the era of peanut butter and jelly as a school lunch is coming to an end. Yes, there’s still Wow Butter and similar non-allergenic replacements but it used to be a lunch the kids could make themselves if they needed to. A simple staple of childhood, it was a mix of the sweet and savoury with basic, comforting flavours for the kids. But it still certainly exists in other forms and I’m definitely seen the flavour represented in other capacities (like a local ice creamery had PB&J ice cream. Tastes are changing but there’s still something cozy about the simplicity of this classic kids food.
Iconic Moment:
Look, let’s just watch terrifying dog men make sandwiches.