🌰🍇🍞PB&J: The best thing since sliced bread

Earlier this year, when Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on imports of aluminum and steel, [the EU fired back with a list]( of products it would target in return—among them [cranberries]( orange juice, and peanut butter. “At first glance,” [Amanda Erickson wrote at the Washington Post,]( the mention of raising the tariff on peanut butter “seems a bit like punishing a toddler by forbidding them to read ‘War and Peace.’” Outside the US, peanut butter is just not a thing: It can be difficult to find and [even more difficult to explain](. Abroad, it’s less a pantry staple and more a symbol of America—hence its status as a tariff target. Americans (the allergic excepted) love the stuff, especially in the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Whether they prefer it classic-style between two slices of plain old white bread, [grilled]( on brioche, or painstakingly crafted from hand-ground nuts and artisan jam, it’s hard to find an American who’s totally immune. How did a nation become so enamored of this dynamic duo? 🐦 [Tweet this]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( Brought to you by [Quartz Obsession] PB&J July 03, 2018 A sticky situation --------------------------------------------------------------- Earlier this year, when Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on imports of aluminum and steel, [the EU fired back with a list]( of products it would target in return—among them [cranberries]( orange juice, and peanut butter. “At first glance,” [Amanda Erickson wrote at the Washington Post,]( the mention of raising the tariff on peanut butter “seems a bit like punishing a toddler by forbidding them to read ‘War and Peace.’” Outside the US, peanut butter is just not a thing: It can be difficult to find and [even more difficult to explain](. Abroad, it’s less a pantry staple and more a symbol of America—hence its status as a tariff target. Americans (the allergic excepted) love the stuff, especially in the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Whether they prefer it classic-style between two slices of plain old white bread, [grilled]( on brioche, or painstakingly crafted from hand-ground nuts and artisan jam, it’s hard to find an American who’s totally immune. How did a nation become so enamored of this dynamic duo? 🐦 [Tweet this]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( Giphy By the digits [3:]( Pounds of peanut butter the average American eats annually [<1:]( Tablespoons of peanut butter that the average European eats annually [9,120:]( Calories in three pounds of peanut butter [$700 million:]( Cash price that Hormel Foods, the maker of Spam, paid for the Skippy peanut butter brand in 2013, in part to fuel its growth potential in China [2,984:]( PBJs eaten over the course of the average American’s lifetime [4 years, 2 months:]( Average age when children enjoy the sandwich for the first time [540:]( Peanuts it takes to make a 12-ounce jar of peanut butter [50%:]( Proportion of peanuts in the US that become peanut butter [$3.49:]( Cost of a jar of Smuckers’ “Goober,” peanut butter and jelly mixed together in a jar [6:]( Record number of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches eaten in one minute [4:]( PBJs one Des Moines man ate in less than an hour, angering his brother, who pulled a knife on him Origin Story Who invented the peanut butter and jelly sandwich? --------------------------------------------------------------- The 1893 Chicago World’s Fair brought us a multitude of things that are still beloved today: the Ferris wheel, Cracker Jack, Juicy Fruit gum, dishwashers—and [peanut butter](. Though the idea of grinding peanuts into a nutritional paste has been around for roughly 3,000 years, it became popular among consumers after John Kellogg (yes, that Kellogg) began [touting]( it as a health food, wowed by its protein content and ease of digestibility. Jelly didn’t enter the picture until 1901, when Julia Davis Chandler suggested the pairing in the pages of The Boston Cooking School Magazine of Culinary Science & Domestic Economics. If that title sounds a little posh for the humble lunchbox staple, that’s because our PBJ perceptions have changed over time. At the turn of the century, any dishes containing peanut butter were considered delicacies due to the relatively high cost of obtaining a jar. Upscale tea rooms and home hostesses alike paired the creamy spread with pimento, watercress, and even nasturtium. Even Chandler’s initial jelly pairing was highbrow. She recommended making “bread fingers” by coating thin layers of bread with peanut butter and currant or crab-apple jelly. “The combination is delicious, and, so far as I know, original,” [she wrote](. According to [Bon Appetit]( we have two people to thank for making PBJ available for mass consumption: Joseph Rosefield and Otto Rohwedder. Rosefield invented a process that made peanut butter last longer; he called the new variation “Skippy.” The resulting competition drove prices down. And in 1928, Rohwedder’s creation, the bread slicer, made uniformly cut loaves a common sight in the kitchen. Brought to you by Hilton Honors Travel like a pro. --------------------------------------------------------------- Flight canceled? Need to check out in a hurry? Forgot your charger? Master traveling in six steps with these must-know tips.[Click here to read on qz.com]( Giphy Quotable “Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love.” — [Charlie Brown]( Reuters/Ezra Shaw/Pool Photo via USA TODAY Game-Changer Why NBA stars are devoted to PBJ --------------------------------------------------------------- NBA players may be worth millions, but they enjoy a 50-cent PBJ even more than the rest of us. “In every NBA locker room, you’ll see a variety of different foods on the table, but PB&J—if there’s a locker room that doesn’t have it, I haven’t seen it,” ESPN reporter Baxter Holmes [told]( NPR. It may not be a protein shake, but peanut butter packs a lot of good nutrients, providing energy for the upcoming game. Even better, the nostalgia most people have for a good ol’ peanut butter and jelly sandwich just makes them feel happy—and, of course, an athlete’s mental state is just as important as their physical state. Although they may be sporty staples today, pre-game PBJs are a relatively recent development that came about thanks to Kevin Garnett, who professed a craving for the sweet snack sometime around his 2007-2008 season. He got what he wanted and ended up having a fantastic game. Shortly thereafter, the humble sandwich began appearing in locker rooms across the league. Did we say humble? Well—not always. Although some players prefer a simple sandwich, others put their own spin on it. Carmelo Anthony uses a cinnamon-raisin bagel instead of bread; the Cleveland Cavaliers add banana and homemade jellies; and the Milwaukee Bucks offer an entire PBJ buffet, with options including Nutella, waffles, and even PBJ shakes. The sandwich is such an important part of Kevin Durant’s life that his 2015 line of Nike shoes featured a [peanut-buttery motif](. Giphy Fun fact! In the Netherlands, peanut butter is [known]( as pindakaas—peanut cheese. 🇺🇸🚀🌎🤔 Not that exportable --------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks to the peanut pushes by [George Washington Carver and John Kellogg]( Americans have an unabashed love for all things peanut butter. But the appeal isn’t at all universal. Despite a two-decade international marketing effort by US peanut farmers (“This is what America tastes like!”), Europeans just aren’t riding the peanut butter train. There are a couple of theories why. [According to]( Andrew F. Smith, author of Peanuts: The Illustrious History of the Goober Nut, “Western Europe already has a nut, the almond. Virtually all European candies have a nut in them, it’s an almond. The Europeans just prefer that, and a peanut doesn’t taste like an almond.” One veteran of the peanut butter industry speculates that not everyone can get behind the spread’s sticky texture. And John Powell of the American Peanut Shellers Association thinks that Europeans associate peanut butter with unpleasant memories, since it was often included in care packages sent from the US during World War II. In China, people consume a lot of peanuts, but not a ton of peanut butter. That’s partially why [Hormel Foods acquired Skippy in 2013,]( seeing a growth opportunity. And they might be onto something: Though product awareness remains low, young mainland Chinese people seem to like peanut butter when they try it, at least based on the [response]( to the news on Chinese social network Sina Weibo. AP Photo Pop quiz Which US president was known for eating a PBJ nearly every day at the White House? Jimmy CarterBill ClintonGeorge W. BushRonald Reagan Correct. Incorrect. If your inbox doesn’t support this quiz, find the solution at bottom of email. Million-Dollar Question What exactly IS Peanut Butter Jelly Time? --------------------------------------------------------------- Long before Overly Attached Girlfriend, Grumpy Cat, and Doge were on the scene, Peanut Butter Jelly Time was an internet phenomenon. [In 2001]( the dancing banana was born as a simple emoticon, an expression of emotion that none of us knew we needed. By the following year, it had been made into a flash animation, which launched a thousand renditions of the bopping banana. The most popular, by far, was [the version featuring earworm background music]( created by Marcus Bowens and Jermaine Fuller, better known as the Buckwheat Boyz, a rap duo with ties to Snoop Dogg. (Snoop was married to Fuller’s sister, Shante.) The bizarre combination spread like wildfire, reaching peak meme after it was featured on the TV shows Ed, [Family Guy]( and [The Proud Family](. But what, exactly, does peanut butter and jelly have to do with a dancing banana? The world may never know—especially since Fuller [died in 2002]( of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after allegedly shooting two police. The Buckwheat Boyz briefly found success after his death when [Baskin Robbins]( used the similarly themed “Ice Cream and Cake” for a successful ad campaign in 2009. Watch this! How to make a breadless PBJ --------------------------------------------------------------- When astronauts want a taste of home, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich does the trick. The process has to be tweaked a bit to accommodate the quirks of space, though—for starters, no bread. take me down this 🍞🍇 hole! Elvis liked to do everything big, including his PBJs—the King was a fan of the Fool’s Gold sandwich: an entire loaf of sourdough stuffed with peanut butter, blueberry jam, and a whole pound of bacon. He famously flew his private jet from Graceland in Memphis to the Colorado Mine Company, the Denver-based proprietor of the hearty meal, just to pick up a couple of sandwiches for his wife’s birthday. Now, you can make the Fool’s Gold sandwich in the comfort of your own home, thanks to the Colorado Mine Company’s [original recipe](. Giphy Poll Creamy or chunky? [Click here to vote]( Creamy.Chunky.Any way I can get it.I don’t do peanut butter. The fine print In yesterday’s poll about [horseshoe crabs]( 41% of you said you’re grateful for the trouble they go through in the name of medicine and science. 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