Fluffernutter and Other Traditional Foods That Started as Advertising

Have you ever eaten a fluffernutter? It's a sandwich made with peanut butter and marshmallow creme, and sugar-craving kids love it. I have made peanut butter fudge with marshmallow creme, but the idea of putting those things between two slices of white bread makes me ill. Be that as it may, the term fluffernutter goes back to the 1960s, but the sandwich was invented in 1918. That's long enough to declare the fluffernutter an American tradition, but you might be surprised to learn that the woman who invented it, Emma Curtis, did so to promote Snowflake Marshmallow Creme. At the time, that was a new product of the Curtis Marshmallow Company, which she founded with her brother. And so it goes. When you develop a new food product, you have to tell people how to use it.

A whole slew of your family's traditional recipes started out as promotional gimmicks. You shouldn't be surprised to find that Grandma's beloved pineapple upside-down cake with nuts came from a recipe on the back of a can of Dole pineapple rings. Read about these and more traditional American recipes that started out as product marketing at Atlas Obscura.  

(Image credit: Kimberly Vardeman)


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What do you mean "nowhere in this post"? Snowflake Marshmallow Creme is a trademarked product, and in the linked article it is explained to be marshmallow without the gelatin, so it doesn't stay in a shape like regular marshmallows. You can call it fluff if you want to.

But you're right about peanut butter and mayo... yecch!
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Oh Miss C. Fluffernutters are to die for! Don't eat them as much as I used to but my pantry is never without peanut butter (Peter Pan Crunchy) and fluff. And one of the very first things I learned to bake was a recipe called 5 Pounds of Wonderful Fudge, which of course was made with fluff. Now lets talk about something the thought of which makes one ill: peanut butter and mayonnaise. Seriously? Gag me with a spoon. Also, nowhere in this post will you see the words "marshmallow creme." Not sure what that is ?. Finally, I like broccoli and brussels sprouts so surely that counts as something. . .
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