The Fluffernutter
October 9, 2015 4:50 AM   Subscribe

Did you mark Fluffernutter Day yesterday? Part of the cuisine of New England, a fluffernutter is a sandwich made with peanut butter and marshmallow fluff, usually served on white bread. The name was invented by an ad agency in 1960. Also called a Liberty Sandwich, it been proposed as the official state sandwich of Massachusetts. There are many variations e.g. Reese's Pieces and Nutella, and...

...here's some of the many more:

- Fluffernutter wontons.
- Grilled bacon fluffernutters.
- Gluten-free fluffernutter sandwiches.
- Fluffernutter squares.
- Fluffernutter ice cream sandwich on banana bread.
- Bites.
- Grilled banana fluffernutter sandwiches.
- Fluffernutter cookies.
- Fluffernutter ice cream cake.
- Fluffernutter Pretzel Chocolate Chip Bars.
- Toasted fluffernutter cupcakes.
- Fluffernutter protein shakes.

And, inevitably...
posted by Wordshore (80 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
There are no variations. That is straight up blasphemy.
posted by jammy at 5:03 AM on October 9, 2015 [11 favorites]


Obligatory:

Old School Commercial*
Really Old School Commercial

(*no idea what's up with the tiny video, all the ones I found of this are like that)
posted by tocts at 5:10 AM on October 9, 2015 [1 favorite]


"Fluffernutter" has always sounded to me like it was the made up name of an improbable sex act whispered about vaguely by middle school students with overactive imaginations and a lack of facts.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:14 AM on October 9, 2015 [28 favorites]


I remember very distinctly the first Fluffernutter I ever ate. My grandparents used to have a little trailer up in the woods in Vermont. Up the hill a bit was a family that had built a little house (a barn, really; their only toilet was an outhouse in the early 90s) who had a son a little older than me. We used to play together while I was up there, and one day his mother served us fluffernutters for lunch, on ridiculously seedy, nutty bread. They couldn't believe that I'd never had one before. I don't think I'd ever even seen Fluff at the time. It was revelatory.
posted by uncleozzy at 5:16 AM on October 9, 2015 [3 favorites]


Is there a deep fried variation?
posted by three blind mice at 5:20 AM on October 9, 2015


Is there a deep fried variation?

The final link in the more...
posted by Wordshore at 5:26 AM on October 9, 2015 [1 favorite]


No mention of the What the Fluff festival in Union Square?
posted by chocotaco at 5:27 AM on October 9, 2015 [4 favorites]


A food of my childhood, something I've had hundreds of times while growing up, but it took maturity and some exposure to the cuisines of the world to realize what a horrific thing this is. It's basically dessert as a main course for lunch, and then chased with a cookie or pudding cup for dessert. What American kids get in their school lunches these days doesn't seem all that much worse after all.

Curious how some corporate-food inventions become nostalgic favorites and others are consigned to the archives of regrettable food. Being a pure sugar bomb and a childhood memory seems to help.
posted by ardgedee at 5:27 AM on October 9, 2015 [1 favorite]


Yet another New Hampshire staple that Ohio fails miserably at providing. No whoopie pies, no maple sugar candy, no clam chowder, and no fluffernutters. Alas!
posted by ChuraChura at 5:28 AM on October 9, 2015


I'll uh, pass.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 5:30 AM on October 9, 2015 [2 favorites]


My wife's attempt to explain marshmallow fluff to me was neither the first nor last time something completely failed to translate out of New Englander, but it was definitely one of the times.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 5:32 AM on October 9, 2015 [3 favorites]


My first year in Boston (I was 27 at the time), my roommate (also in her twenties) would eat these for lunch. At the time, I thought this was completely bizarre and judged her a little harshly for it.

Now, well, maybe it's still a little unusual for an adult, but maybe less surprising..
posted by nat at 5:33 AM on October 9, 2015


Perhaps surprisingly, you can purchase and eat a Chocolate and Blueberry Fluffwich in Birmingham - that's Birmingham, England (the UK one).
posted by Wordshore at 5:35 AM on October 9, 2015


Yet another New Hampshire staple that Ohio fails miserably at providing. No whoopie pies, no maple sugar candy, no clam chowder, and no fluffernutters. Alas!

Slight derail on the subject of local staples. What about Moxie!?, has that spread further away from the Northeast or is it still largely localized to this region?
posted by Fizz at 5:37 AM on October 9, 2015


Also, if you're ever at Cabot's Ice Cream in Newton (MA), get a PB & Banana Sundae (ice cream + sliced banana + peanut butter sauce + fluff). Swap the ice cream from vanilla to banana for even more goodness.

FROZEN FLUFFERNUTTER WITH BANANA.
posted by tocts at 5:39 AM on October 9, 2015 [1 favorite]


No. Serving people Moxie should be criminal.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 5:41 AM on October 9, 2015 [3 favorites]


The final link in the more...

There it is. Deep fried fluffernutter - and one of the judges says it was lacking powdered sugar!
posted by three blind mice at 5:41 AM on October 9, 2015


hat about Moxie!?, has that spread further away from the Northeast or is it still largely localized to this region?

Every time I go to MA or ME I try to pick up some Moxie, because we still don't have it here. God I love that stuff.
posted by uncleozzy at 5:43 AM on October 9, 2015 [5 favorites]


I grew up in New England. I was born in New England. My parents grew up in the mid-Atlantic. I think every kid at my school had fluffernutter on a regular basis. My mom, looked on in horror, and never once let us have it. Not once.

That's right, I was the strange kid without the marshmallow sandwich.
posted by Nanukthedog at 5:46 AM on October 9, 2015 [2 favorites]


You poor child!
posted by rmd1023 at 5:47 AM on October 9, 2015 [4 favorites]


Did she at least let you have hoodsie cups?
posted by tocts at 5:50 AM on October 9, 2015 [2 favorites]


Nanukthedog, I can only assume they at least let you have coffee milk because otherwise that level of deprivation would be classified as child abuse around these parts.
posted by Freon at 6:00 AM on October 9, 2015 [5 favorites]


I am a transplant to New England. At some point, a jar of Fluff ended up in our pantry. I'm not entirely sure how it got there, actually - it must have shown up in the welcome box along with the Red Sox cap and Patriots jersey.

Anyway, during a particularly stressful time at work a number of years ago I would soothe my burnout by coming home and making fluffernutter sandwiches with Nutella and eat them standing over the sink. The jar of Fluff is gone now, but I have no recollection of eating the whole thing; it must have gone off to another human in need, just like a kindly Fairy Fluffmother.
posted by backseatpilot at 6:07 AM on October 9, 2015 [12 favorites]


Marshmallow Fluff is great in a Fluffernutter sandwich, for sure, but it's also the non-negotiable ingredient in my Mom's Christmas fudge recipe. Long live Fluff!
posted by xingcat at 6:08 AM on October 9, 2015 [4 favorites]


1. A friend of mine grew up in the house in Marblehead whose previous owner was the guy who invented Fluff.

2. I don't like peanut butter, so I never cared for Fluffernutters. My alternative was Fluff and grape jelly sandwiches (and, yes, my mother let me eat these)

3. A cup of hot cocoa just isn't complete for me without a dollop of Fluff on top. You can keep your mini-marshmallows

4. The Fluff "Never-Fail Fudge" recipe (no nuts, please) has been a Christmas treat staple in my family for over 50 years.
posted by briank at 6:12 AM on October 9, 2015 [4 favorites]


When I was seven my grandparent's house caught fire. They were able to save it, but it was seriously damaged. One of my parent's friends volunteered to look after me and my brother so my mom could help out at the house that night. She fed us Fluffernutters for dinner, it was the first and one of the few times I've had one, my mom being a bit of a health nut.
posted by Diablevert at 6:17 AM on October 9, 2015


4. The Fluff "Never-Fail Fudge" recipe (no nuts, please)

Ah, the female version, as my dad says. Because he's a dad, and that's the sort of thing they say.
posted by GodricVT at 6:23 AM on October 9, 2015 [8 favorites]


Fluffernutter is the best. Deep-fried Fluffernutter is the best + hot. Yes.
posted by spinturtle at 6:24 AM on October 9, 2015


Seems like their marketing campaign was a sterling success.
posted by mary8nne at 6:33 AM on October 9, 2015


I was a kid in northern Vermont in the 80s and fluffernutters were quite common in kids' school lunches, but even more so when you were over visiting a friend's house at lunchtime. We usually had peanut butter and honey sandwiches (on wheat bread) in my house because my mom (rightly, I'm sure) thought that honey was a healthier medium for sugar delivery, and that eating honey made by bees pollinating the local flora might help with my allergies. I'm not sure about the current science on that. Doesn't exposure to allergens make them worse, not better?

Anyway, I was still that adenoidal nerdy kid for several weeks in May every year, but at least I didn't have streaks of white fluff running up my cheeks all year like some tiny marshmallowy Chester A. Arthur.

Now there's always a tub (how would you describe the container it comes in? it's not like any other food container...) of fluff in our pantry, though I'm damned if I know what we use it for. Rice Krispie Treats maybe.
posted by GodricVT at 6:34 AM on October 9, 2015


One advantage of the advent of national big-box grocery chains is the availability of Fluff here in Sweet Tea Country.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:38 AM on October 9, 2015 [3 favorites]


Related to this is the thing in recent years for some UK supermarkets to have an "American Food" section. The food hall in Selfridges in (again) Birmingham, England, has an American Baking section. Just remembered a picture I took of it, and look what's on it...
posted by Wordshore at 6:41 AM on October 9, 2015


Here is where I say what I want to say every time some mom raises en eyebrow where she sees my kids fluffernutter. He has one Every.Damn.Day.

His sandwhich is 100 % whole wheat too-expensive bread, Organic Almond butter and fluff.

FLUFF: 2 Tablespoons = 6 grams of sugar - zero High Fructose CS

Smuckers Jelly: 2 Tablespoons = 24 grams of sugar - Has High Fructose CS

It's practically health food people!
posted by ReluctantViking at 6:44 AM on October 9, 2015 [17 favorites]


The food hall in Selfridges in (again) Birmingham, England, has an American Baking section.

Wow. That's more Strawberry Fluff than I've ever seen on the shelf of any US supermarket.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:44 AM on October 9, 2015 [2 favorites]


I have neither seen nor heard of anybody eating the strawberry Fluff.
posted by uncleozzy at 6:44 AM on October 9, 2015 [4 favorites]


There is also Raspberry Fluff.
posted by maryr at 6:45 AM on October 9, 2015


My grandma used to make (per our request) a fluffernutter sandwich for me and a peanut butter & pickle sandwich for my sister. I think the lack of a peanut butter & pickle sandwich day proves...something. Probably that I'm the better child and always right, let's not read too much into it.
posted by everybody had matching towels at 6:47 AM on October 9, 2015 [2 favorites]


I've lived in Boston for three and a half years now, have attended the What the Fluff festival twice and still haven't had a fluffernutter. I'm going to eat one before I move out of the city.

I did try Moxie. Moxie tastes like ass.
posted by dismas at 6:52 AM on October 9, 2015 [2 favorites]


I haven't managed to get to What The Fluff in a few years, but last time I did you could get beer with a dollop of either hops-infused or malt-infused fluff dropped in. It was surprisingly pretty good, as far as ridiculous themed foodstuffs go.
posted by tocts at 6:54 AM on October 9, 2015 [1 favorite]


Erdnussbutter Marshmallow Kuchen.
posted by Wordshore at 6:56 AM on October 9, 2015


beer with a dollop of either hops-infused or malt-infused fluff dropped in

WHAT THE FLUFF

Now I need to make some hopped / malted fluff. Project for this weekend. I wonder if a quarter ounce of hops in a batch would be too much. Probably. Maybe I'll start with a gram or two and add a little more at flameout for aroma. Pretty sure I have some crusty old DME in the garage too. Oh this is going to be awesome. Beer fluff.
posted by uncleozzy at 7:00 AM on October 9, 2015 [2 favorites]


Related to this is the thing in recent years for some UK supermarkets to have an "American Food" section. The food hall in Selfridges in (again) Birmingham, England, has an American Baking section. Just remembered a picture I took of it, and look what's on it...

Ha! I took a picture of the American Food shelf section at the Tesco's near our holiday flat back in April and it was not very flattering. Essentially, it seems either expat Americans missed buying all the processed sugar products they have back home or the British wanted to know what the fuss was all about. (Quite a few people who strolled past it with their carts had a look of bewilderment on their faces.)
posted by Kitteh at 7:02 AM on October 9, 2015 [1 favorite]


Previously on MetaFilter, both with lots of links (I should have included these in this FPP):

- Just a bunch of Fluff (2012, Miko)
- What the Fluff?! (2010, not_on_display)
posted by Wordshore at 7:05 AM on October 9, 2015


I sent a jar of marshmallow fluff to a friend in Australia once and it was confiscated by customs because it apparently "contains egg whites" and you apparently "can't send eggs to Australia."

SUUUURE.

I know for a fact those sticky-fingered Australian customs agents were sitting around their grubby little office all afternoon gorging themselves on sweet, sweet Fluffernutters.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:13 AM on October 9, 2015 [3 favorites]


Essentially, it seems either expat Americans missed buying all the processed sugar products they have back home or the British wanted to know what the fuss was all about.

British sections of US supermarkets are mostly cookies/biscuits/digestives, candy bars, and Heinz Beans.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:14 AM on October 9, 2015 [3 favorites]


That, and Marmite.

Also: sorry about the Pop Tarts, Britain.
posted by tocts at 7:16 AM on October 9, 2015


British sections of US supermarkets are mostly cookies/biscuits/digestives, candy bars, and Heinz Beans.

And canned spotted dick.

I forgot to mention The Other Fluffernutter: dipping either Nutter Butter or Pitter Patter cookies directly into the fluff.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:20 AM on October 9, 2015


I didn't say that British supermarkets were the paragons of virtue; it's just very striking what the American Food section consisted of.
posted by Kitteh at 7:26 AM on October 9, 2015 [1 favorite]


British sections of US supermarkets are mostly cookies/biscuits/digestives, candy bars, and Heinz Beans.

Now I'm jonesing for a Crunchie and I think the British section of my Stop and Shop only sells Yorkie.
posted by uncleozzy at 7:26 AM on October 9, 2015


Mimi Graney is a regional treasure. In recent years Union Square would get over 5k people. This year should be interesting
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 7:27 AM on October 9, 2015


I grew up eating them in Jersey, had no idea that Fluffernutters were a New England thing.
posted by octothorpe at 7:28 AM on October 9, 2015 [1 favorite]


I didn't say that British supermarkets were the paragons of virtue; it's just very striking what the American Food section consisted of.

I hear you. It wasn't meant as a rebuttal, just noting the symmetry. We all have a Special Relationship with sweets, it seems.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:33 AM on October 9, 2015


I was a counselor at a summer camp in Maine (and a camper before that) and on Wednesdays as a special treat they'd put out Marshmallow Fluff as part of the dinner buffet. My brother and cousin were counselors at the affiliated boys' camp and sometimes they'd bring campers over for sailing races or whatever on days that weren't Wednesday and convince me to sneak into the kitchen and steal them Fluff for their sandwiches since their camp never had any Fluff.

I think I might have reached peak New England?
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 7:40 AM on October 9, 2015 [5 favorites]


There is also Raspberry Fluff.

That's like saying there were four Indiana Jones movies. Why would you lie to people like this?
posted by xbonesgt at 7:46 AM on October 9, 2015 [4 favorites]


ChuraChura: Yet another New Hampshire staple that Ohio fails miserably at providing. No whoopie pies, no maple sugar candy, no clam chowder, and no fluffernutters. Alas!

You know, I thought basically the same thing moving to California. But there's a chain store that has a large international foods section (in addition to mildly quirky furniture and home goods), and last time I went, guess what I found a single jar of in with the British jams and Nutella? (I think my wife's cousins thought I was nuts for getting so excited over a small jar of white goop.) Only place I've run across it out here. Looks like there's a few in Ohio...

And yeah, our family whoopie pie recipe always called for fluff as part of the filling. Never seemed right without it.
posted by Upton O'Good at 7:49 AM on October 9, 2015 [1 favorite]


I was never a huge fluff fan as a kid, I think it was the texture? And I tried it again as an alleged adult and it's still kind of like, why is this happening to me? Why did I choose this culinary path?

i feel like i missed out on a vital potential fluff enjoyment phase of life when i was still smoking hilarious amounts of weed though
posted by poffin boffin at 7:58 AM on October 9, 2015 [1 favorite]


I've eaten two fluffernutters just this week. I am 44.
posted by otters walk among us at 7:59 AM on October 9, 2015 [2 favorites]


i feel like i missed out on a vital potential fluff enjoyment phase of life when i was still smoking hilarious amounts of weed though

I always bring the big jar of fluff when we go camping and it usually doesn't come home. I will make no further comment.
posted by uncleozzy at 8:02 AM on October 9, 2015 [2 favorites]


MetaFilter: hilarious amounts of weed.
posted by Wordshore at 8:03 AM on October 9, 2015 [1 favorite]


i mean obviously it's the bears and no one can insist otherwise. how dare they accuse you.
posted by poffin boffin at 8:03 AM on October 9, 2015 [2 favorites]


Be warned: Too much fluff, and you'll bust a nut!
posted by Kabanos at 8:24 AM on October 9, 2015 [1 favorite]


And yeah, our family whoopie pie recipe always called for fluff as part of the filling. Never seemed right without it.

Damn skippy (no pun intended). I will fight anyone who says whoopie pies should have whipped cream filling.
posted by briank at 8:34 AM on October 9, 2015 [1 favorite]


I feel sick just reading this. Definitely not part of my life up here in Ontario. Perhaps if i'd been exposed to a fluffernutter as a kid but this just sounds beyond revolting. As such I'm loving reading all the comments on fondness for such a thing.
posted by biggreenplant at 8:34 AM on October 9, 2015 [1 favorite]


I'm pretty sure that fluffernutters on soft yellow potato bread are one of the very few things my New York-raised mother passed on to us kids. I think the potential coolness in the minds of my peers of getting marshmallow fluff on a lunch sandwich mostly got cancelled out by the weirdness of the bright yellow bread I ate it on, though. Mmmmmmmmmm.

There was one glorious summer when I was twelve where I ate basically nothing but fluffernutters and raw spinach. Ah, the good old days...
posted by sciatrix at 8:37 AM on October 9, 2015 [1 favorite]


Fluff was strictly controlled in my family growing up, just like sugar-sweetened cereals were. A fluffernutter sandwich was a special treat.

I suspect if I had one now I would find it disgusting...
posted by suelac at 8:57 AM on October 9, 2015


“I Dropped My Fluffernutter!”
posted by The Hamms Bear at 9:50 AM on October 9, 2015


Next hot fluff best:
1. toast an english muffin*
2. spread butter
3. spread fluff
4. crispy, chewy, warm, gooey, fluff blending with butter in the nooks and crannies PROFITPROFITPROFIT

(*toasted bread works in a pinch, but the muffin sends it over the gastronomic edge )
posted by spinturtle at 10:00 AM on October 9, 2015 [2 favorites]


wow i had no idea this was a new england thing! born and raised in california with a kind of health nut nurse for a mom and i still somehow managed to eat my fair share of fluffernutter sandwiches. although i'm not sure we ever finished the original jar of fluff my mom bought...if my parents hadn't just remodeled their kitchen i would say that it's probably still lurking somewhere in the back of one of the cupboards. it might actually still be, for all i know
posted by burgerrr at 10:00 AM on October 9, 2015


Grilled Fluffernutter Sundae, at a place in Bah Hahbah. The combination of toast, ice cream, fluff, peanut butter, and chocolate -- it worked.

(The Lobster Fluffernutter appears to not yet be a thing.)
posted by kurumi at 10:11 AM on October 9, 2015


Huh. After being initially confused by more than a few of the pictures on doing a Flickr search, I slowly came to realize that more than a few Americans have named their cat "Fluffernutter". So, there's that.
posted by Wordshore at 10:26 AM on October 9, 2015 [1 favorite]


I was a strange child, hated peanut butter and peanuts (no allergy, just hated it) and marshmallow fluff, so never tasted this treat. However, regular marshmallows, especially in s'mores, were another story. Yum. Still do not like peanut butter, but peanuts in a recipe are fine and marshmallow fluff...still ewww.
posted by mermayd at 11:50 AM on October 9, 2015


Gotanda: this was the 10th What the Fluff festival, last month.
posted by rmd1023 at 11:56 AM on October 9, 2015


That bit in the fpp about the standard fluffernutter being made on wonderbread style white bread is lies. At the least, you need a bread slice that will not totally fall apart when the fluff is spread on it. Fluffernutters do taste best, also, with a hearty peasant boule or not-too-sour white sourdough bread and natural (not tons of extra sugar added, preferably crunchy) peanut butter, when, as noted in another comment above, the total sugar content of your sandwich is actually still less than if you had used junky bread with no nutritional value, sugar-laden peanut butter, and standard jam or jelly.

(In other sandwich notes, grilled cheese is not velveeta on white bread; it is swiss or cheddar on rye.)
posted by eviemath at 1:32 PM on October 9, 2015


More, this time on foodgawker.
posted by Wordshore at 1:50 PM on October 9, 2015


I grew up in Buffalo NY and fluffernutters were definitely a thing. My folks, while not health nuts, wouldn't buy the stuff, but I've had them at friends' houses after sleepovers and such. I was always jealous of my friends who were allowed to eat Fluff and the super-sweet cereals like Fruity Pebbles and Lucky Charms.
posted by misskaz at 5:10 PM on October 9, 2015 [1 favorite]


My dad tells the story of how he tried out for Jeopardy! as a 20 year old in the early 70s. They asked all of the contestant candidates three questions. One of his questions was "What is a fluffernutter?" He got it wrong, and didn't make it on the show, but he's never forgotten the answer.

Growing up, I never really got to eat fluffernutters.
posted by taltalim at 6:44 PM on October 9, 2015


I went to a Fluffernutter party to celebrate, yesterday! We washed down our sandwiches with Pabst. We wore red, white, and blue, like the jars. There was Fluff pizza, but I did not partake as I consider that blasphemy. That's just going too far. Anyway, it was divine. All thanks to the lovely Rusty Blazenhoff of Blazenfluff.

I don't understand why California won't get on board with Fluff. That Jet Puff stuff is a poor substitute. I'm thankful that Cost Plus carries Fluff (albeit in the tiny jars) otherwise I'd be reduced to only what I could carry back from Boston in my suitcase each christmas.
posted by greermahoney at 9:34 PM on October 9, 2015


And while I love a Fluffernutter, and it's delicious on cocoa, I usually just pair my Fluff with a spoon.
posted by greermahoney at 9:35 PM on October 9, 2015 [2 favorites]


Grew up late 70s/early 80s in upstate NY. All the kids I knew subsisted on Fluffernutters, except for the one weird kid who was allergic to peanuts, and me (denied by my health-conscious mom, much like misskaz above). Also that peanut butter and jelly striped stuff in a jar? Didn't get to have that either.
posted by medeine at 9:54 PM on October 9, 2015


Also that peanut butter and jelly striped stuff in a jar? Didn't get to have that either.

Yeah, Goober Grape was for rich kids.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:35 AM on October 10, 2015


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