Sometimes it just takes the aroma of something cooking to take you back – to your childhood – a favourite restaurant, your grandmother’s kitchen. There is something special about the way food evokes memories.
On Twitter this week, people were talking about how the peanut butter and jelly sandwich reminds them of their childhood and how delicious it is that some still indulge in it every chance they get.
Growing up I used to love snacking on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on brown bread. I don’t think a day went by without making myself one. As much as I used to love the sandwich I cannot recall when last I had it, but the memories of indulging in this creamy, sweet, smooth, crunchy, fruity, satisfying, filling, and relatively inexpensive snack will forever linger in my mind.
Judging from the comments under the banana, peanut butter, and jelly on a hot dog bun posted by @javroar, you don't have to be in grade school to have a special affinity for the classic sandwich.
In fact, aside from those who have food allergies, the sandwich in its simplicity makes for a pretty decent lunch that can fill you up while fitting into practically any meal plan.
It delivers fats and proteins in the peanut butter and carbs in the bread and jelly. Over the years, people have come up with different ways to jazz up this classic lunchtime staple. People have gone wild to mix and match their ideas according to their personal preferences.
Just because something is classic does not mean it does not allow for any creativity. In fact, foodies across the world are constantly on the hunt for the best possible version of this all-too-nostalgic dish.
Take for example the creation posted by @javroar, some tweeps attacked him for using a hot dog bun instead of bread but many others argued that it would still deliver the goodness it is supposed to deliver.
pb&j glizzy 🤤 pic.twitter.com/3hsaNuaYRO
— d🦕n (@javroar) July 13, 2022
That said, let us look at the history of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
According to the National Peanut Board, the story begins with the three essential parts of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich also known as PB&J which are peanut butter, jelly, and bread.
The bread
The NPB reports that the significance of the bread component in the PB&J sandwich is the invention of pre-sliced bread in the early 1900s.
They say Otto Frederick Rohwedder invented the bread slicer but bakers were not interested because they thought no one would want their bread pre-sliced, then Rohwedder kept refining his invention and changing things until it was ready to use in bakeries.
He then advertised the machine as “the greatest step forward in baking since bread was wrapped.” Sliced bread proliferated, and soon people were looking for spreads to use with this newfound wonder food.
The jelly
NPB reports that the most important person in this part of the story is a man named Paul Welch. They say In 1917, Welch secured a patent for pureeing grapes and turning them into jelly.
He developed and advertised Grapelade (rhymes with marmalade) from Concord grapes. This was popular with America’s troops in WWI, and when soldiers came home after the war, it was popular to spread Grapelade on bread, reports the food site.
The peanut butter
They also reveal that contrary to popular belief, peanut butter was not invented by Dr George Washington Carver but he is credited with advancing the peanut crop in the South in the early 1900s and published his “300 Uses for Peanuts,” which included a peanut paste.
NPB reports that the forerunner of the peanut butter we know today was first brought to light some time during the 1880s when a St. Louis physician, Dr Ambrose Straub, made a peanut paste for geriatric patients who had trouble swallowing, or had bad teeth, and around the same time, Dr John Harvey Kellogg (same as the cereal) was the first to patent a process for manufacturing peanut butter.
The food site reports that peanut butter was first introduced at the 1893 Chicago World Fair, and in 1904 Dr. Straub got a food company to develop the peanut spread and they took it to the St. Louis World Fair where it became so popular, that grocery stores began ordering it.
So, the story of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich is the story of three essential ingredients; all of which have been around for a long time, joining together to give people one of their favourite and enduring sandwiches.