Few thing conjure up images of domesticated idyll the style earthnut butter and jelly does : the doting mother watching on as her young nipper tries , for the very first meter , to make the sandwich and stop up smearing peanut butter all over pristine granite countertops . The story is wizard because it strikes a chord with so many of us — and even after consuming 100 , if not thousands , of these little three - component sandwich during puerility , many consider the peanut butter and jelly sandwich ( aka PB&J ) an comfortable , fast , and low-cost lunch in their maturity .

But where does the peanut butter and jelly sandwich in reality number from ? And what wee the trinity of ingredients we ’ve accept as completely mundane so utterly divine when layer together ?

As is the case with most iconic sandwiches , there ’s much disagreement about the accurate origin of the PB&J. In the former 1900s , peanut butter , having been a collision during the 1904 World ’s Fair , was consider an elegant food served in Manhattan tea rooms . Pairings coarse at the fourth dimension may seem a morsel strange in retrospect : pimentocheese , celery , and watercress , all piled on crackers . ( Today , of course , cultivated celery and peanut vine butter is still a popular kids ’ snack . ) In the ‘ 20s and ‘ XXX , the mark Skippy and Peter Pan were born , and during the Great Depression earthnut butter - only sandwiches were popular : peanut butter was loud , pre - sliced clams had just been introduced , and this was something square , filling , and alimentary that even kids could put together themselves .

It would n’t be until World War II that jelly link up the club : along with peanut butter and lettuce , it was on the U.S. military ’s ration lean . Once they returned home , American soldiers assay out the food they consumed oversea . These three nutrient flew off supermarket shelf as a trio : two without the third just would n’t vanish any longer .

One might be tempted to bring out out the old “ the rest is account ” cliché from here , but no geographic expedition of PB&J would be complete without a hat - crown to Goober , Smuckers ’ product that compound goober butter and jelly into a individual jar . However ill - advised the idea seemed ( and seems ) , the two - in - one deal that pip shelves in 1968 is still alive and well : today Goober is sell in strawberry , grape vine , and chocolate varieties .

Traditionally a PB&J consists of two tablespoons each of peanut butter and two tablespoons of jelly mixed harmoniously onto a bread of your pick , although white bread will invoke most to purists . Ask any parent , though , and this idea of a precise ratio becomes laughable . create one ’s own version is a ritual , and with the unnumerable varieties of peanut butters ( tranquil , creamy , decreased fat , low fat ) and tone of jelly the number of eating the sandwich has germinate from an American custom to a deeply personal one . In the United States , grape remains the top seller , with strawberry following closely behind . gene in other variables : the all - important slice strategy ( diagonal versus horizontal , say ) or the crust - versus - no - incrustation argument , and things really get crazy . Today that leave us in perpetual quest to elaborate what some nutritionists consider the gross sandwich , a portmanteau of whole grains ( count on the bread ) , protein , “ estimable ” fat , and fruit ( provided the jelly does n’t have bring sugar ) .

will it to the pro to make things even more complicated : in 1998 , Peanut Butter & Co. give as a monkey nut butter - centrical restaurant in Manhattan ’s Greenwich Village , propose items such as the “ PB&J Club , ” a supersize variation of the traditional sandwich , the “ Bagel Nosh , ” peanut butter and jelly served on a drink bagel , and the “ White Chocolate Wonderful Sandwich , ” featuring a ritzy combination of bloodless chocolate peanut butter , orange marmalade , and crunchy almond . Then there ’s New York sweet smirch Led Zeppole , whose quirky excerption of Italian ices includes — yep , you guessed it!—a peanut vine butter and jelly flavor . Interesting , yet even that take a backseat to PB&J - flavored liquor , which Van Gogh Vodka released this spring to the shock and fear of an unsuspecting populace . The flavour profile sounds pretty good — it ’s say to combine peanut butter , hoot , and vanilla extract — but why strain and drink the sandwich when the real thing is so hearty ?