Back to school

In the last half-century, peanut butter & jelly has become an American icon. In fact, the average American will have eaten 1,500 peanut butter and jelly (PB&J) sandwiches by the time they graduate high school! Now that it's the back to school season I decided to make Peanut Butter and Jelly bars, instead of the traditional sandwich ;-)

Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars

A little bit about the History of the Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich. Food historians do not know exactly when the peanut butter and jelly sandwich was first prepared, and there have been no advertisements or mentions of PB&J before the 1940s.

Peanut butter wasn't invented until 1890, and it became a hit at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis. During the 1920s and 1930s, commercial brands of peanut butter such as Peter Pan and Skippy were introduced. Around the same time, pre-sliced bread became common in the U.S. However, there's no mention of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before the 1940s.It is known, however, that both peanut butter and jelly were on the U.S. Military ration menus in World War II, and some have suggested that the GIs added jelly to their peanut butter to make it taste better. It was an instant hit and returning GIs made peanut butter and jelly sales soar in the U.S.