7 ms·

Who Invented the Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich?

23 points by b3morales 5y ago

ok_dad 5y ago
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!
- flatiron 5y ago
  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.
- b3morales 5y ago
  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 5y ago
  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.
  - jszymborski 5y ago
    This is curious to me! What sort of cheese? American sliced?
    - lobocinza 5y ago
      I like it with fresh cheese like cottage.
    - tmnvix 5y ago
      Usually a hard cheese like a cheddar, sometimes edam.
dredmorbius 5y ago
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+and+jelly&year_start=1875&year_end=1975&corpus=15&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cpeanut%20butter%20and%20jelly%3B%2Cc0 https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=peanut+butter+...
daneel_w 5y ago
I don't know. Who invented the cheese and orange marmalade sandwich?
codeulike 5y ago
Jelly is Jam in UK speak, right?
- b3morales 5y ago
  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 5y ago
  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).
  - millimeterman 5y ago
    I disagree; I'd say US jelly is much closer to UK jam than UK jelly. US jelly is basically just jam that's had the fruit solids strained out before setting. Generally no artificial flavors or colors are used (I checked a cheap jar of grape jelly in my fridge before writing this). Also because it's made like jam, it uses pectin as its thickener. The reason grape jam doesn't exist across the pond is because it's made with Concord grapes, which were bred in the US and have large seeds that essentially require straining - hence jelly. UK jelly (US Jello), on the other hand, is basically water with artificial flavor/color, sugar, and gelatin added and allowed to set. Quite different IMO.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
vidanay 5y ago
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 5y ago
  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.
  - vidanay 5y ago
    I actually have fond memories of the jelly soaked bread in my brown bag lunch as a child.
    - jhot 5y ago
      Yeah I liked my sandwiches smashed and soggy. On the occasions where I'm going to be dirt bagging for a week or so, I'll still take a whole loaf of bread and make it all into PBJs (and stuff them back in the bread bag) to eat throughout the week. It's usually in the winter so I'm not too worried about mold.
- ryanchants 5y ago
  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 5y ago
  There's another axis - is the peanut butter and jelly mixed before it's put on the bread?
11thEarlOfMar 5y ago
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-tomato-and-peanut-butter-sandwich https://www.clermontsun.com/2011/07/08/the-origin-of-the-tom... http://mormonfoodie.blogspot.com/2011/04/peanut-butter-and-tomato-sandwich.html http://mormonfoodie.blogspot.com/2011/04/peanut-butter-and-t...
- RobotCaleb 5y ago
  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
  - JosephHatfield 5y ago
    If you like PB and Pickle, then you should definitely try PB and pickled red onions. It's surprisingly good.
    - RobotCaleb 5y ago
      That sounds pretty great actually. Do you have a preferred method for pickling your red onions?
      - JosephHatfield 5y ago
        Here's my recipe, adapted from numerous others found on YouTube: 1: Cut one red onion along the grain to minimize cell damage, 2: Simmer the onion slices in water a few minutes to soften them, 3: Put the slices into a 16oz mason jar, 4: Fill the jar half with white vinegar and half with water, 5: Add a pinch or two of Diamond Crystal salt and a pinch or two of cane sugar. 6: Refrigerate overnight. The onions turn a beautiful shade of pink as they age and they can last for weeks without going bad.
waste_monk 5y ago
Invented, or discovered?
ncmncm 5y ago
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.)
- numair 5y ago
  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?
  - ncmncm 5y ago
    Apparently the harmful component of peanut oil is called "lectins". I searched "peanut rabbits artery" and several relevant papers came up, including "A physiologically relevant atherogenic diet causes severe endothelial dysfunction within 4 weeks in rabbit": https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2803250/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2803250/
    - thedailymail 5y ago
      In that paper at least, the peanut oil was just used as an inert vehicle or adjuvant for the molecules being studied (cholesterol and methionine). See Materials & Methods: "The peanut oil aids in the absorption of cholesterol as well as providing extra fat to the diet to resemble human diet, and it does not affect aortic pathology or endothelial function (Zulli et al. 2003)."
    - numair 5y ago
      Thanks for putting the work in! This is really interesting; you might be on to something. I hope someone decides to cover this in a long-form article. Edit: The most interesting thing is comparing your comment with all of the others on this thread. Clearly, this is knowledge that is not widely considered, even if it is known.

23 points by b3morales 5y ago

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!

flatiron 5y ago
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.
b3morales 5y ago
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 5y ago
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.
- jszymborski 5y ago
  This is curious to me! What sort of cheese? American sliced?
  - lobocinza 5y ago
    I like it with fresh cheese like cottage.
  - tmnvix 5y ago
    Usually a hard cheese like a cheddar, sometimes edam.

dredmorbius 5y ago

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+and+jelly&year_start=1875&year_end=1975&corpus=15&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cpeanut%20butter%20and%20jelly%3B%2Cc0 https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=peanut+butter+...

daneel_w 5y ago

I don't know. Who invented the cheese and orange marmalade sandwich?

codeulike 5y ago

Jelly is Jam in UK speak, right?

b3morales 5y ago
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 5y ago
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).
- millimeterman 5y ago
  I disagree; I'd say US jelly is much closer to UK jam than UK jelly. US jelly is basically just jam that's had the fruit solids strained out before setting. Generally no artificial flavors or colors are used (I checked a cheap jar of grape jelly in my fridge before writing this). Also because it's made like jam, it uses pectin as its thickener. The reason grape jam doesn't exist across the pond is because it's made with Concord grapes, which were bred in the US and have large seeds that essentially require straining - hence jelly. UK jelly (US Jello), on the other hand, is basically water with artificial flavor/color, sugar, and gelatin added and allowed to set. Quite different IMO.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

vidanay 5y ago

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 5y ago
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.
- vidanay 5y ago
  I actually have fond memories of the jelly soaked bread in my brown bag lunch as a child.
  - jhot 5y ago
    Yeah I liked my sandwiches smashed and soggy. On the occasions where I'm going to be dirt bagging for a week or so, I'll still take a whole loaf of bread and make it all into PBJs (and stuff them back in the bread bag) to eat throughout the week. It's usually in the winter so I'm not too worried about mold.
ryanchants 5y ago
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 5y ago
There's another axis - is the peanut butter and jelly mixed before it's put on the bread?

11thEarlOfMar 5y ago

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-tomato-and-peanut-butter-sandwich https://www.clermontsun.com/2011/07/08/the-origin-of-the-tom... http://mormonfoodie.blogspot.com/2011/04/peanut-butter-and-tomato-sandwich.html http://mormonfoodie.blogspot.com/2011/04/peanut-butter-and-t...

RobotCaleb 5y ago
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
- JosephHatfield 5y ago
  If you like PB and Pickle, then you should definitely try PB and pickled red onions. It's surprisingly good.
  - RobotCaleb 5y ago
    That sounds pretty great actually. Do you have a preferred method for pickling your red onions?
    - JosephHatfield 5y ago
      Here's my recipe, adapted from numerous others found on YouTube: 1: Cut one red onion along the grain to minimize cell damage, 2: Simmer the onion slices in water a few minutes to soften them, 3: Put the slices into a 16oz mason jar, 4: Fill the jar half with white vinegar and half with water, 5: Add a pinch or two of Diamond Crystal salt and a pinch or two of cane sugar. 6: Refrigerate overnight. The onions turn a beautiful shade of pink as they age and they can last for weeks without going bad.

waste_monk 5y ago

Invented, or discovered?

ncmncm 5y ago

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.)

numair 5y ago
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?
- ncmncm 5y ago
  Apparently the harmful component of peanut oil is called "lectins". I searched "peanut rabbits artery" and several relevant papers came up, including "A physiologically relevant atherogenic diet causes severe endothelial dysfunction within 4 weeks in rabbit": https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2803250/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2803250/
  - thedailymail 5y ago
    In that paper at least, the peanut oil was just used as an inert vehicle or adjuvant for the molecules being studied (cholesterol and methionine). See Materials & Methods: "The peanut oil aids in the absorption of cholesterol as well as providing extra fat to the diet to resemble human diet, and it does not affect aortic pathology or endothelial function (Zulli et al. 2003)."
  - numair 5y ago
    Thanks for putting the work in! This is really interesting; you might be on to something. I hope someone decides to cover this in a long-form article. Edit: The most interesting thing is comparing your comment with all of the others on this thread. Clearly, this is knowledge that is not widely considered, even if it is known.