my american friend

[atommickbrane]

I simply do not understand how peanut butter and JAM (that is what 'jelly' actually means) is a staple sandwich ingredient! Like how, say, CHEESE is a staple, or ham, or perhaps cheese AND ham (although that is somewhat CONTINENTAL mes amis

Comments

[glynnis]

Yeah, peanut butter here isn't super-sweet, but peanut butter and jelly (or jam, because jelly is gross) is more of a kids food here, maybe because kids tend to be picky and prefer sweeter things? Then when you're older, the peanut butter and jelly sandwich becomes kind of a comfort food thing, plus it's quick and easy and peanut butter and jelly both have pretty good shelf lives and are cheap.

The cheese with strawberry slices on a sandwich thing is just weird. Maybe it has something to do with the whole "put berries in EVERYTHING" movement that's been going on for a while.

[atommickbrane]

Wait wait! So 'jelly' and 'jam' are not the same things?? This is a bolt from the blue, please elaborate!

Aye - I would think toddler-desperation food, but it appears (perhaps I am getting the wrong impression), that it's still a basic starting point for sandwiches throughout the lunching lifestyle, which just seems odd!

I must admit here that I don't think I had eaten peanut butter until perhaps I was 20 anyway though so make of that wot you will :)

[kerrypolka]

Jam has seeds in it (or poss even giant berry bits) and tastes like real berries. Jelly is very very sweet and very very thin and has no bits in it, ever. Jam >>>>>> jelly.

[atommickbrane]

Ah! So "jam" = "posh jam"! Now I understand!

[huskyteer]

Nonononono, jelly is fab! You strain it to get rid of all the horrible pips that get stuck in your teeth, hence jelly is greater than jam I don't believe I'm actually getting quite worked up about this.

I made chilli apple jelly a couple of years ago and it was the best peanut butter accompaniment ever.

[atommickbrane]

Oddly whilst I hate orange juice with bits in it (and marmalade with bits in!! uergh!!!) more than anything in the world, JAM with bits in isn't that bad?

I just can't get this sticky goo + viscous goo being a good thing! Next you will say it is OK for bean juice to touch your fried egg!!

[glynnis]

They're very similar, but jelly is only made with the juice of the fruit (and a fuckload of sugar, usually) whereas jam has chunks of the fruit and seeds, etc., in it, so you have some idea of what the fruit was before it became jam. I'm staunchly pro-jam!

Hm...well, I think a lot of people turn to peanut butter and jelly as a last resort, like they're in a hurry or they don't have much money or whatever, plus there's the whole comfort food thing. You can get a lot of sandwiches out of a jar of peanut butter and a jar of jam, so it's pretty economical, and the peanut butter makes it filling. Lots of adults here still eat pb & j, but I think it's rarely their first choice.

[atommickbrane]

I can't conceptualise peanut butter as being filling - in my head it's just... sugar! Burns up fast and doesn't fill you up! Perhaps I will need to buy a jar of peanut butter and eat it with a spoon? Purely for research purposes, of course...

perhaps the premise comes from the relative sweetness of (pre-sliced plastic-y "wonderbread" style - I gather it's pretty darned sweet) bread? So the assumption is sweet bread => sweet fillings, rather than a savoury bread => savoury... fillings?

[glynnis]

Well, peanuts are pretty high in protein, so it tends to stick around a while. I've never eaten peanut butter in the UK, though, so maybe it's more sugary there? Most brands here aren't very sweet at all, especially if their selling point is how "peanutty" they are.

Ew, Wonderbread! I haven't eaten that in... a really long time. It's not sweet, though. Just bland and pillowy. Whole wheat bread is actually sweeter. Peanut butter and jam is the only sandwich I'll eat on wheat bread because of that sweetness.

[kerrypolka]

Yes, I tend to think of peanut butter as savoury rather than sweet, it's mostly protein and fat and goes on chicken to make satay!

[huskyteer]

I am brand-loyal to Whole Earth, which isn't very sweet.

[atommickbrane]

B-b-b-but chicken satay is sweet!! The only sweeter thing is like the sweeter end of terikyaki which is so sweet it is essentially MEAT JAM anyway...

Oh I am pleased that I had no internet yesterday but I can STILL CONTINUE THIS THREAD, hurray!

[kerrypolka]

Clearly a Livejournal poll is the only way to sort this!

om nom nom nom meat jam

[puzzled_anwen]

My friend who has even worse insulin resistance than me (actually she's almost diabetic, so MUCH WORSE) sometimes eats a spoon of peanut butter if she can't face any other proteiny/fatty food. I think some of the cheaper brands may have sugar added but decent peanut butter is basically peanuts plus maybe some oil and salt. Well, pretty much always salt, also sometimes some oil.

I hate peanuts, though, but a nice sandwich is: nice seedy wholemeal bread, almond butter (amlongds >>>>>>> peanuts-peaYUCKS-more-like) and blackberries (these may be acceptable from a TIN if not available fresh but they are at the moment). Possibly with nutella on the non-almond-buttered slice of bread. Fvck, where's my almond butter/bread/blackberries? (Obviously I has nutella, I AM NOT STUPID)