So if you read the previous post, Maya wrote about peanut butter. If you haven’t already guessed, I’ll be writing about its soulmate ||drum roll, please...|| jelly.
Originating in Europe, the first recipe for jelly appears in the first known cookbook: De Re Coquinaria, or The Art of Cooking, which dates from the 1st century A.D. Early settlers in New England brought their own recipes with them, with the first recorded book on making jelly appearing in the 17th century. They used sweeteners such as molasses, honey, and maple sugar, which differs from the high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners we use today.
In the early 1800s, the United States experienced a surge westward, and the legendary Johnny Appleseed walked through the Midwest planting apple orchards with a purpose of providing crops for pioneers. About half a decade later, one of those pioneers Ephraim Wales Bull achieved his goal of cultivating the perfect grape: big, early-ripening, and black with a robust, tart flavor.
In 1869, Dr. Thomas Branwell Welch used the Concord grape to launch his grape juice company. Name sound familiar? Yes, Dr. Welch was the founder of Welch Foods Inc., commonly known as Welch's. But it wasn't until the WWI that Welch's grape jelly, which his descendant Paul Welch dubbed "Grapelade," gained notoriety. After returning from war, troops demanded more Grapelade, and it finally started being mass-produced for the entire nation.
Grapelade followed the soldiers into WWII, but this time accompanied by peanut butter. The legendary combination was featured on the U.S. Military ration menus: while peanut butter was a high-protein, shelf-stable ingredient easily carried on marches, jelly was there to add that sweetness and taste of home the soldiers missed so much. It didn't take long for good ol' PB&J to become part of the average American soldier's daily life.
Today’s modern standards provide jelly maker’s the freedom to explore. Flavor combinations are as endless as our imaginations, and this delicious condiment can be enjoyed by everyone, from soldiers in battle to kids at school.
Sources:
https://www.nationalpeanutboard.org/news/who-invented-the-peanut-butter-and-jelly-sandwich.htm
https://www.lunagrown.com/the-history-of-jam-jelly/
https://patch.com/massachusetts/concord/ephraim-w-bull-and-the-origin-of-the-concord-grape
https://thejellyqueens.com/blogs/blog/jelly-lessons-4
I found it very surprising that you chose to talk about jelly (gee I wonder why). Something that I wanted to do more research on was its relation to peanut butter (and bread). Apparently Grapelade, peanut butter and sliced bread were three staple items in soldiers’ rations during WWII. American soldiers added jelly and bread to their peanut butter (major source of protein) to make it more palatable. When U.S. soldiers returned home, they continued eating the PB&J sandwich and sales increased. Its nutritional value, good taste, and affordability have made peanut butter and jelly one of America’s most loved and consumed sandwiches to this day -- it's estimated that the average American will consume around 3,000 of them during the course of their lifetime.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I wanted to ask you: what was the impact of jelly in WW1? (I know you talked a lot about it's influence in WW2 and I'd assume that the jelly industry similarly expanded to support troops during WW1)
DeleteThanks for the question! I found this PDF online containing WWI documents, and lo and behold, I found jelly in the food rations (8 oz. dried fruit or jam)! As I mentioned above, the soldiers loved putting Grapelade on their bread; they also apparently liked eating it with their "Bully Beef," cooked, preserved, and tinned meat primarily from Argentina. Also, I found it really fascinating that soldiers made jam tin grenades. Because the British soldiers lacked grenades at the beginning of the war, they would improvise by inserting nuts and bolts and attaching a fuse to the cans, and throwing those at the Germans.
DeleteSource:
https://history.army.mil/html/books/023/23-22/CMH_Pub_23-22.pdf
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/08/how-advertisers-used-world-war-i-to-sell-sell-sell/375665/
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ReplyDeleteI really liked the continuation from the post peanut butter and found it quite amusing. Doing a little bit more digging around and I found that jam was brought to Europe from Knights when they came back from a crusade. It was first introduced by that and from there it spread around and became popular as a condiment.
ReplyDeleteSource:
http://cima99.com/10-interesting-facts-about-jam-and-marmalade/?lang=en