Friday, May 20, 2016

7 Facts About Fluff.

  When I was young, I loved to have a peanut butter, marshmallow creme, coconut, and peanut sandwich.  I absolutely adored it but I couldn't have it very often because my parents couldn't afford it.  The only time my mother bought it was when she planned to make fudge but I'd try to sneak enough for my sandwich.  I don't know if I'd still like it but it left me with fond memories.

Marshmallows, Giant, Roasted, LiftedSo where did it come from? Although there are a few recipes for marshmallow filling beginning in 1896, a man in Massachusetts created the first commercial marshmallow creme in his kitchen and sold it door to door.  Unfortunately, his business faltered due to a sugar shortage during World War I, so he sold the recipe to two candy makers for $500.   They started selling it for $1.00 per gallon door to door and soon created a demand for it.  Soon the company merged with another company.

By the 1930's its was doing so well, the company was able to have a 15 minute radio show just before Jack Benny's Sunday night show.  The show had a character who was always writing a book that was revealed at the end to be a cookbook using the fluff and was called "The Yummy Book."  During World War Two the company allotted their product to distributors based on a percent of pre-war sales due to shortages.  They converted part of the factory to wrap electronics and optical parts in water proof material for the war.

Soon after the war, they started packaging the fluff in a jar which fit in the refrigerator and had a wide mouth to allow the use of spoons.  They continued growing and today they are one of three companies that produce fluff.  They do not offer coupons, merchandise or anything else with the idea of keeping the price down.

Here are a few facts about Marshmallow creme.
1.  There is no chocolate flavored marshmallow fluff because its butterfat content keeps the mixture from whipping.

2. The Dunkee - Mower factory in Massachusetts produces 40,000 pounds of fluff each day.

3. A 2 tablespoon serving of fluff has a quarter of the amount of sugar as the same sized serving of jam or jelly.

4. Susan Olson who played Cindy Brady is known for her "Fluff" art in which she takes paintings such as the Mona Lisa and add the jar of Fluff in so it looks like she has been eating it.

5. The recipe has not changed since it was created. It still uses sugar, dried egg whites, corn syrup, and vanilla.

6.  New Englanders are responsible for consuming half of the fluff produced.

7. At one point, there was a bill to make the Fluffernutter, the official state sandwich of Massachusetts. The Fluffernutter has been around since World War I when it was created by a descendant of Paul Revere at the Snowflake Creme company.  The peanut butter - marshmallow creme sandwich was original known as the Liberty sandwich.

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2 comments:

  1. gee, all that stuff about fluff I never knew about before- thanks for sharing. ;-)

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    Replies
    1. You are welcome. I had fun learning about fluff myself. Thank you for stopping by.

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