I did some grocery shopping today and fell prey to the store’s
“Crazy Friday” offer of a box of Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate
with Mini Marshmallows for .98 cents. I’m on vacation next
week so I decided to treat myself to an occasional cup of hot
chocolate while reading a book or writing.
The next aisle over had a display of jars of Marshmallow Fluff
and Skippy Peanut Butter. That and the cocoa brought back
memories of when I was around 6 or 7 years old. When I was
in the first grade my lunch of choice that I carried to school in
my Roy Rogers Lunchbox nearly everyday was a Fluffernutter
sandwich.
A Fluffernutter was and is made with Fluff and peanut butter, in
my case, Teddy Peanut Butter, because the Cisco Kid on tv said
it was the best peanut butter in the world.
I ate Fluffernutter’s every day until finally one day I couldn’t
stand the sight of them and I switched to pb and j’s. Teddy
Peanut Butter was replaced by Skippy when The Cisco Kid went
off the air. And when we moved from Malden to Dorchester, the
lunch box gave way to more grownup brown paper bags.
But the hot chocolate continued on a little while: either Baker’s
or Hershey’s with a big tablespoonful of Fluff riding on top that
Mom made on snowy days after we shoveled. We lived only a few
miles from Lower Mills where the Baker Chocolate Factory was
and on a damp day you could smell chocolate in the air.
Eventually that changed as well. Our family gave way to the
allure of advertising, and Hershey’s gave way to Nestle’s Quick,
then to coffee as I grew older. And let’s face it, Swiss Miss Cocoa
Mix is a lot easier to fix than making cocoa the old fashioned way.
So I’ll drink it as I think about those days as a kid.
But…umm…I still can’t stand the sight of a Fluffernutter.
7 comments:
It's funny how something will lead to a childhood memory. I never liked fluff myself but I have a granddaughter that would eat nothing else if I'd let her. I never thought of adding it to her hot chocolate. You may have just won me the favorite grandma contest for this week!
I miss the smell of chocolate when I venture into town. Nestle left for somewhere with friendlier tax laws and more favorable weather.
Enjoy your vacation!
True confession: I've never had fluff. No, I'm not kidding.
The fluffernutter sounds like a fascinating and decadent sandwich. Tell me, is it made on white bread? Wheat? Is the bread toasted? Did you ever drizzle it with melted chocolate? I think that's how I'd like it :-)
Well, I can't speak for other aficianados, but mine were on white bread.
Wonder Bread,to be exact, because
it "helped build strong bodies 12
ways."
Wow..never thought of melted chocolate on it though. But I don't think my mom or grandmother woudl have made it for my school lunch that way.*Grin*
I agree with Jasia, the chocolate on it sounds good. Maybe we should put it on graham crackers instead of bread. That way it would resemble s'mores.
Bill,
Yum! Fluff is a comfort food. I heard that some folks are trying to make a marshmallow fluff sandwich the state sandwich of Massachusetts, while at the same time another group is trying to have it banned from being served at public schools!
Great article, brought back memories, especially the Roy Rogers lunch box... mine was a Dale Evans lunch box heh.
Janice
Poor Pat Brady and Nellybelle!
I don't think they got their own
lunchbox.
I recall the furor over banning fluff in the schools. It made the politician who suggested the ban wish he'd never mentioned it!
It is funny how many memories are prompted by walks through the grocery store. I wrote a post about peanuts a while ago and took photos of soda crackers a few weeks ago for a possible post.
I've never eaten fluffernutter sandwiches, never really liked Fluff - just real marshmallows in real hot chocolate.
Thanks for an entertaining post. (I wasn't blogging when you wrote this post and would have missed it except for John Tew's post today.)
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