Fluffernutter

A Fluffernutter is a sandwich made with peanut butter and marshmallow creme. It is usually served on white bread. Some recipes have wheat bread instead of white bread. Many sweets and salty, savory ingredients can be added for enjoyment. Foods with peanut butter and marshmallow creme can also be called fluffernutters.

In June 2006, Massachusetts State Senator Jarrett Barrios proposed an act to stop serving Fluffernutter sandwiches in public schools. Barrios' supporters pointed to the problem of childhood obesity. Massachusetts State Representative Kathi-Anne Reinstein planned to "fight to the death for Fluff". She supported acts that would make the Fluffernutter the official state sandwich. The measure failed, and Reinstein tried again unsuccessfully in 2009.

Recipe and variations
A Fluffernutter is made by spreading peanut butter on a slice of white bread, then spreading marshmallow creme on another slice. When the two breads are put together, they make a sandwich. Different recipes have wheat bread instead of white bread, and Nutella hazelnut spread instead of peanut butter. Sweet ingredients can be added like bananas.Salty ingredients like bacon can also be added. The Fluffernutter is like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The fluffernutter is often seen as a food for children, but adults like it too. For example, in a restaurant, a chef serves a Fluffernutter hors d'oeuvre in a toasted ice cream cone with a spoon of peanut butter and torched marshmallow creme on top.

The term fluffernutter has also been used to describe other foods that have peanut butter and marshmallow creme. There are Fluffernutter cookies, Fluffernutter bars, and Fluffernutter cupcakes. Durkee-Mower has a cookbook that has recipes for Fluffernutter bars, frostings, pies and a shakes. In 2006, Brigham's Ice Cream and Durkee-Mower made a Fluffernutter ice cream flavor. The flavor had peanut butter and Marshmallow Fluff in vanilla ice cream. Fluffernutter was also the name of a candy made by the Boyer Brothers candy company starting in 1969.

History
One of the main ingredients of the Fluffernutter is Marshmallow Creme. It was invented in the early 20th century by Archibald Query. During World War I, Emma Curtis published a recipe for the Liberty Sandwich, which consisted of peanut butter and Marshmallow Creme on oat or barley bread. The recipe was published in a promotional booklet sent to Curtis' customers in 1918. It may be the origin of the Fluffernutter sandwich. Earlier labels and booklets by the Curtises suggested combining Snow Flake Marshmallow Creme with peanut butter or eating it on sandwiches with chopped nuts or olives.

Meanwhile, sugar shortages during World War I hurt sales of Archibald Query's Marshmallow Creme. Query sold his recipe in 1920 to H. Allen Durkee and Fred L. Mower from Swampscott, Massachusetts. The two men began selling the product through their company, Durkee-Mower Inc. They renamed the product Toot Sweet Marshmallow Fluff. Durkee-Mower continues to sell the product under the name Marshmallow Fluff. The sandwich was not called a Fluffernutter until 1960. Fluffernutter is a registered trademark of Durkee-Mower. The company's U.S. trademark registrations for the term cover only ice cream and printed recipes. In 2006, Durkee-Mower sued Williams-Sonoma Inc. in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, alleging that Williams-Sonoma infringed on its trademark by selling a marshmallow and peanut butter chocolate-covered candy under the Fluffernutter name.

In June 2006, Massachusetts State Senator Jarrett Barrios gained national attention when he proposed legislation restricting the serving of Fluffernutter sandwiches in public schools. After Barrios learned that his son was served Fluffernutters on a daily basis at his Cambridge, Massachusetts, public elementary school, he created an amendment to a junk food bill that aimed to limit the serving of Fluffernutters in Massachusetts public schools to once a week. The proposal was criticized as an example of trivial and overly intrusive legislation, while Barrios' supporters pointed to concerns over the problem of childhood obesity. Among the people who defended the Fluffernutter at the time was Massachusetts State Representative Kathi-Anne Reinstein, whose district in Revere was close to Lynn, where Marshmallow Fluff is made. She claimed she planned to "fight to the death for Fluff" and supported legislation that would make the Fluffernutter the official state sandwich. The measure failed, and Reinstein tried again unsuccessfully in 2009. Supporters of the bill cited the sandwich's close association with childhood and Massachusetts.

In culture
The term fluffernutter has sometimes been used to describe something that has minimal to no cultural value. Some writers look at Fluffernutters and marshmallow creme as regional pride.

The sandwich has close ties to New England, particularly to Somerville, Massachusetts, where Archibald Query invented Marshmallow Fluff, and to Lynn, Massachusetts, where Durkee-Mower has produced it for decades. Somerville holds an annual festival called What the Fluff? based around celebrating Marshmallow Fluff and Fluffernutter sandwiches. The festival incorporates music, visual art, games and a cooking contest based around Fluff and Fluffernutters. In 2011, NASA astronaut Richard Michael Linnehan, who was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, and ate a Fluffernutter while aboard the International Space Station, acted as one of the contest judges.

References

Sandwiches