Peanut butter was first introduced in 1904 at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, although it had been sold as a medical nutritional supplement in St. Louis, Missouri for about 15 years. The modern, creamy version was invented in 1922 by Joseph L. Rosefield. Peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches were first mentioned in print in 1940. While no one can take credit for the sandwich’s invention, one thing that can be ascertained was that both peanut butter and jelly were packed with United States Army K-rations in World War II. The combination proved so popular that returning GIs made peanut butter and jelly a standard American food.

Since then, Americans have been adding all sorts of things to the sandwich. Try peanut butter and apple, pb and pear, pb and banana, pb and sliced almonds. Let your imagination make the sandwich.

And of course, now there are other ‘butters’: almond, cashew, sunflower, etc. Check your grocers shelves in the pb&j section.