Outburst 7: Morelli, How to Prepare a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

Outburst 7:

How to Prepare a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

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1. Selection of Ingredients

A. Bread: There are a variety of breads on the market place that one can use for peanut butter and jelly (PB&J) sandwiches. The only limit to what can be chosen is based solely on the chef's own taste. My personal opinion is to choose bread that is firm yet flexible, nothing too hard or too soft as it hinders the food making process. For those purists, however, bread type can be broken down into two divisions with pros and cons for each division.

1. Soft bread: Easier to chew, but when preparing a PB&J using soft bread, remember to spread the PB&J slowly, with even strokes to avoid injuring the bread.

2. Hard bread: Easily crumbles, but gives more texture to the experience. Make sure to use wide, slow strokes on the surface of hard bread, so that every nook and cranny has (at least) a fine layer of taste on it, and yet the bread is not damaged.

B. Peanut Butter: Select your peanut butter.

1. According to FDA standards (Tufts 1) true peanut butter consists of 90% peanuts. Anything less is not considered actual peanut butter, but instead called peanut butter spread.

2. There are a variety of peanut butter types on the market. The most popular brand according to recent consumer studies has been Jiff brand Peanut Butter (Consumer Reports 579.)

3. Warnings: Children under the age of three should not be fed peanut butter on a consistent basis due to reports of high allergy reactions (Prevention 49.)

C. Jelly vs. Jam vs. the World: There are a number of different flavored jellies, and jams on the marketplace these days. Many people interchange the term jelly and jam to mean the same thing, but they are indeed two separate creatures.

1. Jam is actually fruit that is boiled with sugar, and then preserved (Ross). Usage of jam can produce more chunks of texture in the actual sandwich itself.

2. Jelly is the fruit juice boiled, along with sugar and a thickening agent (usually pectin) (Ross). Avoid watery products that may cause the bread to leak, or grow to soft. Bread that is too soft easily tears before consumption.

3. Marmalade and other spreads are also available on the marketplace for easy, if not creative, exploration.

2. Creation Process

A. Select bread and place on an even surface. Cut the bread into two slices if bread has not already been cut.

B. Spread peanut butter on one slice of bread. Make sure to spread the peanut butter evenly over the surface of the bread so that in each and every bite one can taste the peanut butter.

C. Start from the center and work your way outwards to the edges for an even stroke.

D. Try not to leave the largest amount of peanut butter in the center. This makes the sandwich center heavy, and with thin breads tends to push the substances forward and out of the sandwich sides.

E. Spread jelly on the other slice of bread: start from center and work your way outwards.

F. Do not mix the jelly and the peanut butter together yet! Avoid cross contamination until the very last minute when the sandwich is done.

1. It is best to use different tools for both the jelly and the peanut butter to avoid cross mixing and tainting the substances in their normal state.

A.) Spoon: use the back of the spoon to create an even spreading, as the front of the spoon usually retains peanut butter, therefore censoring it from the bread itself.

B.) Knife: use the flat of the blade, but not the tip. If you use the tip this may injure the bread, and cause leakage.

C.) Fork: use the back of the fingers for an even appliance, but not the front.

2. If you must use one tool to spread both the jelly and the peanut butter, thoroughly clean it to avoid cross contamination.

G. Select Additional Condiments for Sandwich

1. Place condiments on the peanut butter side, but not the jelly. The peanut butter side has a thicker consistency, and will better hold the additional condiments.

2. Selection for taste and health reasons. Seeing that some peanut butter contains 16 grams of fat in two tablespoons (Prevention 53) one may want to incorporate fruits and vegetables into the sandwich for a healthier eating experience.

A.) Fruits are a popular choice for PB&J sandwiches. The line between what makes a fruit, and what makes a vegetable is a fine line (Compton). In general fruit is considered to be the part of the plant that produces seeds (Compton). There are three main families of fruits, detailed below (Compton).

1.) Fleshy fruits are defined as fruits with seeds in the flesh (Compton). Good examples of fleshy fruits are oranges, berries and gourds. These can be prepared by slicing the fruit either vertically or horizontally. Make sure that if the seed is present in the fruit, it is not large enough to choke on during consumption.

2.) Stone fruits are fruits which contain pits (i.e. stones). Peaches, cherries and plums are examples of fruits in this definition (Compton). When using these types of fruits, make sure to remove the stone completely as in most cases the stone is a choking hazard.

3.) Dry fruits such as nuts, beans or peas can be used as well. These seeds are edible for the most part, and peanuts fall into this category of fruit.

B.) Vegetables can also be considered as a condiment to a PB&J sandwich. As of this outline, and according to Dr. Greg Welbaum, Associate Professor of Horticulture of Virginia Tech, there are: "approximately 70 major vegetable crops and a total of more than 300 vegetable crops traded commercially in the US." (Intro) Vegetables can be classified in a variety of ways (Welbaum). In this outline vegetables will be classified by their edible parts.

1.) Root classification consists of carrots, sweet potatoes, and beets (Welbaum). Prepare by slicing to avoid choking, and placing evenly on the peanut butter side of the bread.

2.) Stem classification consists of asparagus and kohlrabi (Welbaum). These can be sliced vertically, and placed overlapping onto the peanut butter side of the bread.

3.) Leaf classification consists of onions, garlic, lettuce, and kale (Welbaum). Usage of these types of vegetables can greatly influence the taste of the sandwich, for either a positive or negative results.

4.) Immature flower classification consists of cauliflower, globe artichoke and broccoli (Welbaum). As with other vegetable condiments, these vegetables can be used either cooked, or raw.

H. Take the jelly-covered slice of bread and place it on top of the peanut butter side.

I. (Optional) if using slice bread one may want to cut the crusts off.

1. Crusts on PB&Js tend to give further surface area for the peanut butter and the jelly to spread onto. Also, depending on the composition of the crust itself, may give the bread a chewier texture. The crust also can work as a buffer zone for any peanut butter or jelly that may escape the center of the sandwich.

2. Crusts off PB&Js tend to focus more on the "meat" of the bread itself. When using the crust off variation of a PB&J, make sure to avoid over usage of condiments, as the condiments if not spread on evenly, may spread outwards from the center of the sandwich and outside of the sandwich producing a mess.

J. Serve sandwich with a beverage of choice. The beverage helps cleanse the palate of any sticky PB&J residue found after consumption.

1. Milk, depending on the type, can greatly add to the consumption of the PB&J by adding more of a flavor cornucopia for the taste buds. A few choices are: soy milk (varying flavors), chocolate milk, strawberry milk, organic milk.

2. Water is usually tasteless, and can dilute the original taste experience; however it does serve the purpose of cleansing the palate.

Works Cited

"From the Peanut Butter Gallery." Tufts University Diet & Nutrition Letter April 1994: 1.

"Supper Find: Skinny Peanut Butter." Prevention Feb. 1996: 53.

"Peanut Butter: It's Not Just for Kids Anymore." Consumer Reports Sept. 1995: 576-579.

"Put Off Peanuts: Serious Allergy Increasing in Tots." Prevention Feb. 1997: 49-50.

Koning, Ross E. "Fruit Classification". Plant Physiology Website. 1994. http://koning.ecsu.ctstateu.edu/plants_human/fruittype.html 7-20-2001

Ross, Kristopher David. "About Jelly" The PBNJ Pages. 1999. 7-20-2001 http://www.kdreklektik.cok/thepbjpages/jelly.html.

Welbaum, Greg. Welbaum Seed Research and Teaching Vegetable Crops. http://www.bsi.vt.edu/welbaum/