Fluffernutter

It’s a snack so decadent that one might immediately assume that the King of Rock and Roll first concocted it. Two simple slices of bread, coated with equal and generous amounts of peanut butter and a delightful product called Marshmallow Fluff. To many kids of generations past, it was the perfect afterschool snack; to those with less-nutritionally-minded parents, it was occasionally a resident of the lunchbox. And, to anyone who ever had the privilege of crossing paths with a Fluffernutter, it was a sandwich that seemed as if it was created through divine intervention.

The Fluffernutter might never have come to be, had it not been for a man named Archibald Query, who sold his marshmallow cream spread door-to-door to his neighbors in Massachusetts during the turn of the century. It’s appeal led to the sale of the recipe to two businessmen, H. Allen Durkee and Fred Mower, who first marketed it in 1917 under the name “Toot Sweet Marshmallow Fluff.” The name was eventually shortened to Marshmallow Fluff, and the Durkee-Mower company remains in existence today, offering not only the original, but also raspberry and strawberry versions of Fluff.

And while the Fluffernutter (which is a registered trademark, by the way) is perhaps the most widely accepted way to use Marshmallow Fluff, it also works well as an ice cream topping, an ingredient for easy-to-make fudge, and its pairing with Kellogg’s Rice Krispies, to make those sticky squares of love known as the Rice Krispy Treat, is legendary in its own right. In the end, Fluff’s impact on the snack world seems no less important than that of a humble rock and roll singer from Tupelo, Mississipi, who may very well have consumed a few Fluffernutters in his day.

Speaking of which, if you’ve consumed a few Fluffernutters in your day, we welcome all of your thoughts on this memorable snack in our comments section.