Peanut Butter and Jelly - The Sandwich

[chromedome]

14 hours ago, Tri2Cook said:

Maybe I just get too greedy with the ingredients. I've tried peanut butter on both side with the jelly in the middle and it seems like it becomes very difficult to keep the jelly in the sandwich after a bite or two.
 

As a kid who considered the jelly/jam du jour as more or less a condiment for the peanut butter, I experienced the same problem. I eventually arrived at the notion of stirring the jam (it was usually jam at my house) *into* the peanut butter, which immobilized it nicely. 

 

Soft white store-bought bread (aka "boughten bread," aka "baker's bread") was unknown in my house, so it was always on Mom's bread. That was white when I was a child, then became whole wheat around the mid-70s. The jam was usually either strawberry or raspberry, because that's what we had most often, but might also be blackberry, blueberry, or partridgeberry and apple (a Newfoundland favorite; partridgeberries are known elsewhere as lingonberries). 

[ElsieD]

40 minutes ago, chromedome said:

As a kid who considered the jelly/jam du jour as more or less a condiment for the peanut butter, I experienced the same problem. I eventually arrived at the notion of stirring the jam (it was usually jam at my house) *into* the peanut butter, which immobilized it nicely. 

 

Soft white store-bought bread (aka "boughten bread," aka "baker's bread") was unknown in my house, so it was always on Mom's bread. That was white when I was a child, then became whole wheat around the mid-70s. The jam was usually either strawberry or raspberry, because that's what we had most often, but might also be blackberry, blueberry, or partridgeberry and apple (a Newfoundland favorite; partridgeberries are known elsewhere as lingonberries). 

 

What, no bakeapples?

[gfweb]

If for immediate eating... PB on one slice, strawberry jelly on the other.

 

If its to be eaten hours later, then PB on both slices and jelly in between.

[chromedome]

9 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

What, no bakeapples?

We'd get maybe one or two jars from relatives, and not necessarily every year. It was much, much too precious to be used this way. 

 

For those who don't know, bakeapples (also called cloudberries) are small and yellow-gold and somewhat the size and shape of a raspberry. They grow on very low plants in bogs, so a) harvesting them is slow and hard on the back, and b) it means you'll spend hours serving as lunch for every biting insect within several miles' radius. Newfoundland is renowned for the size, variety, number and ferocity of its biting insects, so that is no light thing (and DEET repellents were just hitting the market during my childhood). 

 

When you got a jar of bakeapple jam, you knew someone loved you very, very much.

[weinoo]

1 hour ago, chromedome said:

 I eventually arrived at the notion of stirring the jam (it was usually jam at my house) *into* the peanut butter, which immobilized it nicely. 

 

 

 

Hmmmm...very cheffy.

 

25 minutes ago, gfweb said:

If for immediate eating... PB on one slice, strawberry jelly on the other.

 

If its to be eaten hours later, then PB on both slices and jelly in between.

 

Yes - the PB acting the same as butter on a tartine, and keeping the bread from getting soggy.

[gfweb]

20 minutes ago, weinoo said:

 

Hmmmm...very cheffy.

 

 

Yes - the PB acting the same as butter on a tartine, and keeping the bread from getting soggy.

Or putting the cheese on both sides of a reuben!

[Toliver]

We used to slather butter on both pieces of bread before spreading on the peanut butter and jelly (peanut butter on one side and jelly* on the other).

The butter added a layer of unctuousness that helped keep the sticky peanut butter from sticking in your throat.

That and a nice cold glass of milk made for good eatin'. 

 

*Note that the jelly was replaced in later years by preserves in our PB & J's due to its spreadability. Jelly tended to stay in gobs on the bread which made for possible uneven ratios of peanut butter and jelly with each bite.Think these things through, people! 

[MelissaH]

If a sandwich has almond butter or cashew butter, it isn't a PB&J anymore; it has become an AB&J or a CB&J.

 

Does anyone else remember that Goober Grape stuff, sold as a jar that had both PB and grape J, and you could see stripes of each through the jar? I always thought it looked cool, but I can't tell you how it tastes because my mom never bought it. And then one year, early in elementary school, the reader included a few recipes, and we got to make them in class one day. The two that I remember were apple juice heated with those little cinnamon hearts, and a sandwich made of (drum roll, please) PB and grape J mixed together, then spread on bread. I made my sandwich (in the art room rather than our classroom because that's where we had tables that could easily be wiped down), and ate it but didn't like it a whole lot because the texture of a proper PB&J sandwich was destroyed by mixing the PB and the J. I never again asked my parents to buy a jar of Goober Grape.

[ElsieD]

I remember Goober Grape!  As far as PB & J sandwiches go, growing up we could have one or the other but never both. That was considered extravagant.  To this day I can't wrap my head around a PB&J sandwich.  But, I love eating peanut butter on toasted grainy bread or whole wheat as a minimum (never white) and I love jam on croissants.  But, never the two together.

[weinoo]

At this point, my biggest concern is that @rotuts has not participated in this damn thread!

[rotuts]

well,

 

Ive thought about it.

 

So my take :

 

first :  pick smooth or chunky.

 

the bread should be very fresh , and not too fancy.

 

but not WonderBread.  No 'heels  or end caps.

 

grape jelly is best 

 

but what ever you pick for yourself would be OK

 

for you

 

but

 

1 ) no seeds in the jam/jelly

 

2 )  no rind in the marmalade

 

and no stuff that's combined into one jar 'cuz your just too lazy to open two jars.

 

that's it.

 

 

 

[scubadoo97]

If I could choose bread for a pb&j I'd go with challa 

[suzilightning]

I remember Goober grape.  I really miss PB which was manufactured at the Red Wing plant in Fredonia NY - it closed back in 2014.

 

I prefer a hearty bread, pb on one side and jelly on the other.

[blue_dolphin]

From the LA Times:  The guy who brought you Umami Burger wants to reinvent PB&J

 

Apparently coming soon to LA's Grand Central Market..

 

Quote

...the sandwiches, which feature a round bread made by a local baker he won’t identify, and crimped in a machine Fleischman is equally secretive about — he and his partners designed and patented it. The rounds of bread look like edible Frisbees, the machine a bit like a giant lemon squeezer. What’s pressed inside the discs, the recipes also from Fleischman and his partners: house-made nut butters and jams, whose ingredients and flavor profiles fit nicely into today’s Southern California farm-to-table ethos. Jams made with rosé and stone fruit; nut butters from pistachios and almonds. There’s espresso and organic chocolate, cashew butter and mango chutney, apple jam and Angostura bitters.

 

[weinoo]

I was ahead of my time.

[robirdstx]

On 7/9/2017 at 1:53 PM, robirdstx said:

I am not a fan of jelly, but my other half is and he prefers his pb&j open face with Jif Creamy Peanut Butter on regular white bread topped with lots of Welch's Concord Grape Jelly. He said he could make one right now, for me to take a photo, but I said that was not necessary. 

 

He took this photo the other day and said I should share it on this topic.

 

 

No need to dirty a plate when a paper towel will suffice!

[cakewalk]

36 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

From the LA Times:  The guy who brought you Umami Burger wants to reinvent PB&J

 

Apparently coming soon to LA's Grand Central Market..

 

 

I can see it now. "Not Your Mother's PB & J Sandwiches - a steal at $15 each!" There will be lines out the door and around the block. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Seldom I fix lunch because I'm lazy.  Anyhow...

 

 

 

The mise.

 

 

 

And I seldom eat at all by daylight.

 

Been a bad year here for berries so the currants are courtesy Wilkin & Sons.

 

[FeChef]

Must be creamy Jif, welch grape jelly, and super fresh soft white sandwich bread. Just like when i have been eating it for the past 40 years. Get out of here with that fancy "preserves" and fancy breads ya snobs.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

35 minutes ago, FeChef said:

Must be creamy Jif, welch grape jelly, and super fresh soft white sandwich bread. Just like when i have been eating it for the past 40 years. Get out of here with that fancy "preserves" and fancy breads ya snobs.

 

But I don't know how to bake white sandwich bread.  I do eat my share of creamy Jif...out of the jar, with a spoon.  Jif is too sweet to eat with jelly.  The peanut butter I made was just peanuts and a little Kosher salt.

 

My grape vines have not been producing yet.  Hopeful for next year assuming the birds don't get all the grapes the way they get the blueberries.

 

[rotuts]

@FeChef 

 

you've got it mostly right.

 

Skippy is quite nice.  esp.  when on Sale !

 

jelly must be ' clear '

 

try a BB&J  w red currant jelly 

 

nice !

[gfweb]

On 7/15/2017 at 3:51 PM, blue_dolphin said:

From the LA Times:  The guy who brought you Umami Burger wants to reinvent PB&J

 

Apparently coming soon to LA's Grand Central Market..

 

 

This guy needs to be suppressed

[Katie Meadow]

Serves me right for looking. That crust-free flying saucer of molded white bread reminds me of watching nervous people play with Wonderbread, rolling it into little balls, etc. Toward the center there must be an ungodly amount of filling. 

[cakewalk]

“We’re trying to create disruptive products,” Fleischman says of the sandwiches ...

Oh please. 

[Cyberider]

I've been having peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch my entire working life.  I'm not too picky about the peanut butter and jelly, whatever is on sale, but always on homemade bread.  I used to like a liberal amount of peanut butter and jelly but now prefer just a thin layer.  My appetite isn't what it used to be, there's less mess, and I can taste the bread better.  I occasionally substitute honey for the jelly.  I'll be retiring shortly and expect my consumption of PB&J sandwiches will be greatly diminished.