My husband, daughter and I are watching cooking shows on BBC America, and we got into a conversation about peanut butter. We wondered how common peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are in the UK. They are a children's staple food here in the US, except in the increasing number of classrooms, etc., where they are banned because someone has a peanut/groundnut allergy.

Do children in the UK (and Europe) eat peanut butter sandwiches? Do they eat them with grape or strawberry jelly? And where does the peanut butter come from--would it be imported from the US?

I don't have kids, so I can't speak to how popular peanut butter is over here, but certainly we've been aware of it for decades and it has been on sale for that length of time.

I don't recall eating it much as a kid myself, but that would probably mainly have been that neither I nor my brother particularly liked it. I do have a vague memory of Mum buying it at least once, though. But it quickly vanished from the weekly shopping list thereafter.

Jelly over here is jam, AFAIK. Jelly is that wobbly thing you use in desserts. (Jello?) Strawberry jam was always the most popular flavour - but whether that's still true I have no clue. Haven't eaten jam in years.

I don't think it's necessarily imported. Certainly, most supermarkets in the UK will sell their own brand versions, among other brands.

That probably doesn't answer your question much. <G> I'm kind of curious to here what those with kids say, actually.


LabRat

I eat peanut butter sandwiches and while peanut butter may be imported (as too much of our food is, and I'm not rushing into the kitchen to check its origin) it's not something you have to seek out as it's as readily available in supermarkets as any other sandwich filling.

As a child I remember that a lot of kids used to eat jam (what you call 'jelly') sandwiches, mainly strawberry. I never heard of anyone eating peanut butter and jelly/jam together until I was practically out of school, and I have no idea whether kids have taken it up over here, not being a parent. Personally I never understood the appeal of jam sandwiches, and I'm even more sceptical about mixing jam with peanut butter. I did use to eat golden syrup sandwiches, though...

You didn't specifically ask about Australia, but here goes ...

Aussie kids eat peanut butter. Probably peanut butter, vegemite (black yeast extract that Australians love) and jam (same as England, what Americans call jelly) are the most popular spreads. We are aware that Americans eat peanut butter and jam together, but mostly we don't.

I think most of the peanut butter available here is locally made. There is an Australian called Dick Smith who has a range of foods, all made in Australia and as far as is possible, made from Australian ingredients. He sells peanut butter.

The popularity may have waned a little due to allergy problems and the fact that some schools have a school-wide ban on anything with nuts.

Do other countries have crunchy and smooth?

Lots of brands on sale in the UK, and have been for many years. Back in the 1950s there was even a hugely unprofitable government "Groundnut Scheme" to grow peanuts in Tanganyika, which lost millions of pounds, though the idea there was mainly to get vegetable oils. I don't currently have a jar in the house, but I do intermittently buy the stuff - it's good comfort food. I usually have it with a little Marmite (savoury yeast extract similar to Vegemite), but I've eaten it with jam, or on its own. I think that most of the peanuts used to make it in the UK come from India and China, but I could be wrong on that.

later Wikipedia says China exports peanut butter as well as the nuts, I'd guess that a lot of the product on sale in the UK is made in China.

Maybe I should add that products made with peanut butter (e.g. sweets) don't seem to be made in the UK - Reece's cups and their other peanut / chocolate products are around, but are imported from the USA and fairly pricey.

We have crunchy and smooth in the U.S. I also can tell you that the peanut butter they sell in the UK is much less sweet/salty than the kind sold in the U.S. The last time I went over to London my neighbor across the street asked if I would take a jar of American peanut butter to her son who was in London. I ended up taking over two large jars of peanut butter and a few boxes of Kraft macaroni & cheese to him.

Thanks for all the responses.

We live in Georgia, USA, where peanuts and peanut butter are important parts of the agricultural economy. But, as I mentioned before, peanut butter (usually with grape jelly) is a staple for kids' lunches all over the US, and is often on restaurant menus as one of the kids' meals offered. I grew up in Missouri, and I specifically remember that I ate a peanut butter sandwich for lunch every day of third grade. But I figured peanuts would have to be imported into the UK, since the weather is not warm enough to grow them, and we didn't know how common it would be to eat peanut butter there.

You didn't ask about Sweden, but here goes.

Certainly we have peanut butter in Sweden, and certainly we have both crunchy and smooth. But it is not anything like a staple food in Sweden. In our country school lunches are free, so you generally don't bring your own lunch to school, and when I was at school as a student I was never served peanut butter. Today I'm a teacher, and I practically always bring my own lunch to school and heat it in a microwave oven in the staff room. I could eat in the school canteen, but as a teacher I would have to pay for my food, and then I prefer to bring my own. But I think I know enough about what is served in the canteen anyway to say that they don't ever serve peanut butter.

Most Swedish kids go to daycare centers before they start school, and they eat lunch there, of course. But due to allergy problems, I think that peanut butter is out of the question there.

Mainly though, peanut butter has never been a part of the Swedish "food culture", due to the fact that peanuts can't be grown here. "Open sandwiches" (with just one slice of bread) are very popular here. Kids will eat their sandwiches with cheese, jam, a slice of ham, liver spread with sweet and sour dill pickles or some mild salami.

But it's not a problem to buy peanut butter if you want it.

Ann

Here in New Zealand peanut butter sandwiches are eaten, but to my knowledge not with jam (jelly). Personally, I hate peanut butter - or anything involving nuts (I'm not allergic, just don't like the taste).

Like in Australia, Vegemite is also a popular spread here, probably more so than Marmite which is similar. Jam and Honey and the other popular spreads.

This may not be completely on topic, but I can't stand most peanut butter. It just doesn't taste right, kind of sweet, kwim? That's because of all the sugar they add to them. I do like old fashioned peanut butter, though. I've got a jar in the fridge right now.

Tara

I asked some of my colleagues today, and waddayaknow? One of them told me that her husband, a Dane, has peanut butter with his sandwiches all the time. Another colleague, an English teacher who spent her childhood in the United States, often has peanut butter sandwiches with her family on Fridays and Saturdays, particularly if the family is relaxing and spending the evening together.

Another colleague told me that she used peanut butter just yesterday to bake some peanut butter cookies, but they don't eat peanut butter as a sandwich spread in her family. That's much like me. I have a jar of peanut butter in the fridge because I bought it to bake a peanut butter cake last year. The cake turned out okay, but not splendid, and I have not used the peanut butter since then. It has probably expired by now.

But peanut butter is apparently more popular than I thought here in Sweden, at least among my colleagues and their families!

Ann

My jar of peanut butter has an English address on it, so I'm assuming that, although the peanuts would have been imported, the peanut butter was made in the UK.

I'm going to put my hand up and confess to occasionally eating peanut butter and jam sandwiches. However, I think this is a consequence of my having spent some time in Canada when I was a student. I wouldn't consider it to be a 'normal' combination in the UK.

Then again, I always thought that it was normal to eat peanut butter with tomatoes and cucumber, and the number of Canadians I came across when I was a student who thought that a vile combination was rather large!

My landlady, when I was in Canada, endlessly tried to convince me that peanut butter and banana sandwiches were a good idea. I was never convinced, and could never bring myself to try that particular combination.

I do, however, like apples with peanut butter.

I'm not even sure if you can get grape jelly over here.

You can buy Skippy peanut butter over here, but I think that is made under licence in the UK. Certainly, Skippy is for sale locally, in one of our (few!) shops. (The only other place I've seen this for sale in the UK was in Manchester, in a shop that specialised in selling things to homesick Americans at vastly inflated prices.)

My personal preference is for sugar-free peanut butter; I think it tastes much better than either the stuff with added sugar or with added apple juice. (I've seen the latter sold as being 'American style' peanut butter).

I've never tried peanut butter with marmite. Although I like both separately, I'm not sure I can imagine them going together. Maybe I'll have to try...

As for peanut butter sweets... Harking back again to when I was in Canada, I found anything with peanut butter chips in it to be utterly revolting, and quite unlike actual peanut butter. I still shudder at the memories!

Krissie

I just have to say that right now, I'm looking at the empty plate on my desk that had peanut butter and a banana.

I have an unhealthy addiction to peanut butter, and bananas and apples are some of my favourite things to combine it with. Also celery.

Oooh, yes! Peanut butter and celery.

As far as sandwiches go, peanut butter and banana is good. One combo I haven't seen mentioned yet is peanut butter and honey (sometimes with a sprinkle of cinnamon).

We lived on peanut butter as kids. I think my all-time favorite was the Fluffernutter - peanut butter and marshmallow "Fluff" sandwiches.

As a kid I wasn't too keen about peanut butter on celery because I hated the "strings" whenever you tried to break off a clean bite. Now I eat peanut butter with banana, with apple, with celery, in pb&j sandwiches, on toast, or even straight out of the jar. Mmmmm....

My husband remembers having peanut butter in hot milk as a child.

This may or may not be an urban legend, but I've heard that Elvis liked to order a whole loaf of bread filled with a whole jar of peanut butter and a whole jar of jelly. And then he'd eat the whole thing. Ewww, gross! (But maybe it's just a made-up story. You know, like the one about the Elvis statue that has supposedly been found on Mars?)

Ann

Oh, by the way, I found this picture...Elvis Presley Pizza Dough Peanut Butter and Banana Bread!

I'm an American and as a child I hated peanut butter. I liked peanuts but not peanut butter.

I've had a big weight problem for years and have lost a LOT of weight over the last couple of years. Anyway I am following a diet plan that suggested peanut butter as a snack - but it specified "Natural" which is with NO Sugar. I found I like that. I eat it on a spoon or spread on banana or apple slices. I remember as a child my mother eating in on apples.

If I really had to I could eat peanut butter on saltine crackers but I still can't stand it spread on bread. Also the idea of jelly or jam with it is revolting. I was just not your typical American kid. My favorite lunch was tuna fish sandwiches.

Well I can testify as of this evening that peanut butter is good bait for mousetraps. I shall have to go buy more...

A lot of sugar/salt, etc is added to American PB these days HOWEVER, I think it is becoming increasingly popular to make your own PB. Like at our local grocer's, they have peanuts in a grinder and you just grind the quantity you want, weigh it, and pay for it. They also have almonds to grind to make almond butter. So there's nothing added and it is GOOD (though I do tend to like the pre-packaged stuff better).

Crunchy is my preference and it tastes like heaven w/ apples and banana (as someone said earlier).

As far as jelly goes.. I thought jelly and jam were two different things here in the States.

Jelly - No seeds, chunks of fruit, etc. Totally smooth
Jam - Some pieces of fruit, seeds
Preserves- Very chunky and fruity

I don't like jelly... I always use strawberry jam or preserves. At the grocer's (at least in TX) the bottles are clearly labeled differently (jam, preserves, jelly, etc).

I do think the grape jelly is most popular w/ kids in the US but my preference is jam and chunky Peanut butter. I need some texture w/ my PB & J.

As Perry would tell you, The King loved peanut butter and banana sandwiches.

As for using it on mousetraps, I agree that it's great. Much better than cheese. Harder for the mice to get without setting off the trap.

Love peanut butter. Always have plenty in the house. Running out of peanut butter is like running out of toilet paper. Not something you ever want to happen. In fact, forget about the kids - it's still a staple in my diet. Nothing like a peanut butter and honey sandwich for supper - although it's also good with jam or bananas or even just straight peanut butter. Great on bread, crackers or just straight peanut butter. Makes great cookies, too. (As you can see, I'm a big fan)

ML

Count me in as part of the "I Love Peanut Butter" brigade.

Well, you can get peanut butter in Germany, but it's not a favorite here. Because there is no reason to like peanut butter if you have Nutella.

Out of curiosity, I once tried peanut butter, and found that I didn't like it at all. (I don't remember if there was sugar in it, but I think there was.)

Just thought I would mention that the peanut butter from the US is much more smooth than what I was used to in Australia/New Zealand.
I can't get the Aussie crunchy or super crunchy peanut butter here in HK (my kids LOVE peanut butter), but the US 'crunchy' brands I have tried have very little peanut bits in it at all and are mostly just the smooth 'butter' part. (In Oz I can get a crunchy peanut butter that is mostly chunks )

In NZ peanut butter sandwiches were common at school, and in my day the popular flavours were 'Peanut butter with chips - I think you call them Crisps in other parts of the world' and peanut butter with strawberry or raspberry jam. Failing that we did the good old Fairy bread sandwiches (which are hundreds and thousands sprinkles on buttered bread).

My daughter takes peanut butter sandwiches to school once in a while here, although the 'norm' in HK schools is stir fried noodles or fried rice cooked in the morning and put in a little thermos pot that keeps it hot until lunch.

My daughter ate Nutella sandwiches for about a year after she spent 3 weeks in France, because the family she lived with there ate it all the time. She has gone back to eating peanut butter now. Some of the grocery stores here carry Nutella as a regular item but we had to ask ours to order it. They still carry it, so we must not be the only ones buying it. I think I have also seen ads for it on TV lately.

Here in Portugal the biggest supermarkets sell peanut butter, but it doesn't seem to be one of the favorite items since there are usually only two different brands on the shelves, and there are no more than 20 jars of peanut butter sitting there at any time... I've tried it on sandwiches, but can't seem to like it no matter what But I've never combined it with bananas, so it might be a good future experience that will shift my perception of peanut butter...
Still, Nutella and the like, such as Tulicreme, are exponencially more popular than peanut butter at the tail of Europe.

I love Nutella too, but it's hard to get around here.

if there is then i never ate it

Definitely yes, Marcus. We always use peanut butter in the traps.
PB&J is a staple in our house. There is always a jar of chunky peanut butter at hand. I like it plain, but hubby likes it with jam or jelly. Usually that means sugar free preserves (which are runnier than regular preserves) at our house.
I use the terms jam and jelly interchangeably.
PB&J was a staple of our school lunches (you brought your own then) and our kids' lunches. Two pieces of white bread with a spread of peanut butter,margarine (to unstick it some) and jelly/jam. For the kids it was wheat bread.
I do recall Hubby buying a jar of peanut butter at a Tesco in England because he was dying for a taste of it. It was different, he said, but didn't tell me how it was different.
I can't stand vegemite or marmite and they are advertising nutella here frequently.

Artemis

I think I can honestly say not a week went by when I didn't have a peanut butter and honey sandwhich when I was at school. That and vegimite and cheese.
Nowadays, I very rarely eat peanut butter.

Yum, peanut butter and honey! I've always loved it that way!

I've never tried vegemite, though. I don't think you can get it in San Diego. I've never seen it at the grocery store, at least.

Tara

I'm very late coming to this discussion, and I bring it up again because no one has mentioned my favorite sandwich combination: peanut butter with bread and butter pickles. For those unfamiliar with pickles, these are pickle chips that are slightly sweet. I rarely eat peanut butter anymore because it is too salty and sweet. There is a particular brand in the U.S., Adams, that purports to be 'natural'. They have a low salt variety. If you make it yourself and don't add some salt, you'll find it's just too bland.

We tried vegemite in New Zealand but found it unappetizing. It all depends on what you've grown up with. In the South, where I grew up, peanut butter and bananas were a staple. The bananas are sliced not mashed.I prefer them slightly green and firm. Elvis' favorite, by the way, was peanut butter with banana on white bread and fried in butter. No wonder he gained so much weight.

Jude