About ten years ago my husband told me, “I used to eat fluff sandwiches when I was a kid.” I don’t know how it came up. We had been dating for a few years at the time. I laughed heartily. We had a weird exchange that I’m going to recreate for you below:
Girlfriend Q: “That’s funny.”
Boyfriend Q with a blank stare ::pause:: “No, I ate fluff sandwiches. For real.”
Girlfriend Q at a loss, “What is fluff?”
Boyfriend Q: “You don’t know what Fluff is?”
Girlfriend Q: “No, never heard of it. What is it?”
That jar of Fluff sat for a long time. He never opened it. It got pushed to the back of the cabinet and I found it when we were packing up for a move. The contents had separated and it was opened for the first time only so that the contents could be tipped into the garbage and the glass jar recycled. My first and last experience with Fluff. I think of it as a regional food.
Do you know what Fluff is? Do you eat it? Any guesses on where my husband grew up?
Haha, Yes! Fluffernutters! (Northern Indiana girl here) I was introduced to fluffernutters just before college by a boyfriend at the time. So it wasn't something I had as a kid, then it was probably a pb&j for a sweet snack. Now I am partial to having pb&banana slices or nutella on toast.
Kids in Illinois eat fluffernutters. I guess it's like an alternative to pb&j. I think they're pretty good.
I have never had it nor seen a jar of it but my mother talks fondly of fluff sandwiches when she was growing up in the Pacific Northwest.
LOL Oh my gosh, about 10 years ago *I* had an almost identical conversation with my ex-fiance! The only difference was that he used to eat fluffer-nutter sandwiches after school (PB&J with fluff instead of J) and we immediately ran to the grocery store to try to find a jar (we were 18, what can I say?). I think I tried a little and hated it, but that wasn't particularly surprising since I don't like marshmallows. But the jar sat in his parents' kitchen for at least the rest of our relationship (another 3 years or so) and was joined by a second jar that one of our friends gave him as a joke birthday gift. And based on this, I'm going to guess that your husband grew up in the Eastern Midwest (Ohio/Michigan/Indiana/Illinois), though from the responses, it seems that Fluff is more universal than I had imagined.
Oregon kid, no Fluff. But I think maybe other people ate it, because I knew about it. I have never tasted it though.
New England? We used to have peanut butter and fluff sandwiches as kids. The sandwiches were even better when the bread was toasted and the peanut butter and marshmallow would get all toasty. It's also used in making fudge. My mom used to put a dollop in our hot chocolate instead of marshmallows
I love the fudge recipe on the back. It truly is never fail. I also put Fluff in hot chocolate – -better than marshmallows.!
I wonder if this post will generate the most responses ever! LOL!
I would have guessed that it's a southern thing before reading the comments here. My DH and I both grew up in the south, but his family is native and my parents are from NY. I never had it, my DH ate it a lot. I've never tried a fluffernutter (can't bring myself to try) but we've let the kids do it once.
Also, I've put it on chocolate ice cream with some nuts – kind of a homemade rocky road. It is yummy in a carnival kind of way, but definitely not sandwich material in my mind.
PS…when are you going to tell us where your hubby was raised?
Growing up in West Texas, we refer to "fluff" as Marshmallow Cream!
never heard of a fluff/fluffernutter sandwich at all!
only thing we ever use Marshmallow Cream as was to mix it into a package of cream cheese for fruit dip!
Mrs. Q I'm with you on this, apparently I'm missing out on other fluff uses!
I never had fluff as a kid, but as an adult I use it to make frosting for s'mores cupcakes. Delicious!
Boyfriend Q grew up in North Carolina or Virginia. That's my guess, since I grew up in VA and Fluff was an integral part of the after-school-snack menu in those days.
By the way, yes, I know what Fluff is, and NO, I don't eat it because IT'S DISGUSTING.
I grew up eating peanut butter and Fluff sandwiches. I still like hot chocolate with a scoop of Fluff in it. It's readily accessible in Maine, where I grew up, but my sister in FL and my BFF in OH both have trouble finding it.
So bad, and yet so good.
Yes!! Fluffernutter sandwiches are one of my favorite sandwich types, even now, as bad as I know it is for me. I have never liked peanut butter and jelly, so the fluff was a good alternative for me. 🙂 I'm sad you never tried it!
Mmmmmmm, fluffernutters. On Wonder bread. My kids have never had them but every 10 years or so I get a craving for the stuff.
We never had them at home (NJ) but my friend's Grandmother in Rhode Island introduced me to them when we visited her. Her house was junk food heaven. Ice cream at every meal too. Mmmmmmmmm 😉
I grew up in Kansas and we def had fluff. It was always a special treat to have a fluffernutter!! My mom would buy the fluff to make fudge or rice crispies, and then also make the sandwich for us. Its pretty much like peanut butter covered mashmallows…mmm!! I kinda want one now!!
Am I the only person here completely grossed out by the very thought of marshmallow fluff sandwiches? Must be because I'm Canadian, LOLOL.
I'm from Texas and we used it to make fudge and one version of my Grandma's divinity, (the other version used boiled sugar water)
When I was sixteen a friend of mine, who's family came from the east coast, served peanut butter and fluff sandwiches at her slumber party. I remember asking for just plain peanut butter after the first bite of mine. It made the bread crunchy. 0_o
I use fluff in making fudge – very yummy in fudge. My mother would have jumped off a cliff before giving my sister and I anything as sugary as a fluff sandwich (west of Rockies). My hubby on the other hand grew up eating them(East coast).
He's from the northeast – no farther west than NY, but most likely NY or MA. Fluff was not a part of my childhood, but it was big with most of my classmates. I actually find it disturbing. I could see it as being yummy in crepes or a dessert, but on bread? Really? (Strangely enough, compared to a PBJ apparently fluff actually has less sugar than many jellies.)
My one and only experience with 'Fluff' (I'm Australian, so my opportunities have been limited) was when I received a tub of the vegan version as a gift from an American friend. I opened it cautiously, seeing that perplexing concoction of oddly viscous white "fluff" for the first time. I dipped in a teaspoon… and found out that it was utterly delicious, albeit in very small quantities. So what would I do with it? It was too sweet to eat as breakfast, too sweet to eat as a meal… that left dessert. But I didn't want to eat bread for dessert, and I didn't want to ruin any of my awesome baking by slathering it with this sugar. It was flavoured like vanilla, so I thought it'd go well with fruit. The problem was that I didn't want to destroy precious Summer fruit like strawberries by introducing them to fluff. And for cheaper fruit, like apples, the fluff was too unbearably sweet – it made the fruit taste flat and sour. So what did I do? Left it in the back of the cupboard, neglected, until I threw it away about a year later. Sure, it was a fun experiment, but I'd rather eat real food any day. 🙂
Oh, and for the record, I've never eaten Pb&j. I'm sure it tastes great, but I feel like there's something fundamentally wrong about it. Granted, I eat vegemite occasionally, so each to his/her own!
Definitely not a regional food. I didn't have it growing up, but those around me did. Can't say I'm on board with using marshmallow as a sandwich filling.
I had fluffernutter sandwiches (grew up and live now in the Northwest) growing up, but never just fluff – that would be gross. We also called it Marshmallow creme. I think it's just a softer version of marshmallows, without being shaped and coated with cornstarch. It is delicious, though!
Here in St. Louis there's a restaurant that sells fluffernutter sandwiches and "flying monkeys," which is fluff, peanut butter, and bananas (I just like the name). Growing up, I didn't know anyone who ate the sandwiches, but we used fluff to make fudge every year at the holidays.
I'm from the Pacific NW and am aware that Fluff exists. I've never had the nerve to try it though, but isn't it just melted down marshmallows? I've heard of people using it for rice krispie treats. (In addition to making Fluffernutters.)
I was about 4 and living in VA with my grandmother. She would make pb and fluff sandwiches for lunch and I HATED them! I have never eaten it since.
I grew up in the midwest, and while I'd heard of it and kinda remember seeing it on store shelves it was never anything that my family purchased. Which is probably a good thing because it's oen of those things I would've probably loved way too much.
I grew up in Southern IL and had never heard of people using marshmallow cream for anything other than making fudge until I was an adult. Now a rare treat for me and the kids are fluffernutters….or better yet, fluff and nutella sandwiches. YUMMY!
I grew up in the Midwest and knew about fluffernutters, but it was a mythical item that never got served in our house. Outside of that we just called it marshmallow creme. It's in tons of dessert recipes that my Grandmother makes, like "Mississippi Mud" brownies, fudge, etc.
There's a local frozen custard shop here that makes a "black & white" that is vanilla custard with marshmallow creme and hersey's syrup on it.
We had a perpetual jar in the cupboard in NW PA. We used it to make Rice Crispy treats rather than melt a bag of marshmallows.
I would also like to point out that neither my family nor any of my friends ever ate Fluffernutters regularly. It was a lazy Sunday treat or a special dessert at a sleepover. We didn't pack them in our lunches for school everyday.
And in all honesty, it might contain a lot of sugar but it is by far the least of anyone's worries nutritionally. It is corn syrup, sugar, powdered egg whites, and vanillin and certainly not as high fat as a bag of Doritos. I didn't have any friends growing up that ate it a lot. Even as kids it was too sweet for us. We probably ate less fluff on a sandwich than we did sugary sweet grape jelly.
Also note that while Fluff does contains corn syrup, Smucker's Grape Jelly contains corn syrup AND HFCS. Of course now its just semantics because it is all sugar. It just depends on whether you like a less sweeter dextrose or a super sweet fructose.
The real problem is not the Fluff itself but rather handing a sandwich of sugary Fluff mixed with processed oily fake sugary peanut butter on sugary white Wonder Bread to a child whose been playing video games for the last 6 hours. THAT's the problem.
My mother made all the bread we ate and the peanut butter was real (had to stir it and everything) because we bought it in gallon vats at a co-op. One of THOSE sandwiches was actually a great energy and protein filled lunch when you spend all day climbing trees and building forts. Like everything in life, its all about moderation.
I've had it before. It's hard to get out of the jar and it makes a gross, sticky mess. Worse than regular pb&j. 😉
I've lived in Florida pretty much my whole life and I know of people who love fluffernutters. I'm not a fan, as I don't like marshmellows. I'd definitely say it's not a regional thing, though, unless that region is the entire East coast.
I don't know that they're super popular here in the Rocky Mountain area, but I certainly have had a peanut butter & fluff sandwich! Not since I was a kid, though.
I think a sandwich of just fluff would be kinda gross, but it does taste good with peanut butter. At least from what I can remember!
But I'd rather have an Elvis (peanut butter and banana sandwich) any day! Fried or not.
We grew up on Fluffernutters…I always liked mine heavy on the fluff light on the peanut butter.
Now I'd have to say I wouldn't touch it. Maybe it'd be good for making rice crispy treats, though.
My mom ate that growing up, as did my sister and I. Yep…. usually on a sandwich with peanut butter. We grew just outside of Chicago, but judging by the responses here, it isn't a regional treat after all!
I grew up in Louisville, KY and remember my friends talking about Fluff and peanut butter sandwiches. Some even added chocolate syrup. My mom didn't approve of "junk food" so I never tried one, even in a trade. Now that I'm middle-aged, I have no desire to try one because the thought of sticky sugary marshmallows makes my teeth hurt! Vikki at http://vikkisverandah.blogspot.com
I knew kids who ate them growing up in New England, but never got it, personally. They just looked gross to me. Pretty much everyone I knew who ate fluff at it with peanut butter. Now, PB&J I love (my mom used to say that I ate so much peanut butter it must be flowing through my veins!), but why ruin a perfectly good peanut butter sandwich with marshmallow?
I'm from Rhode Island and many of my friends at Fluff or fluffernutter (fluff + PB) sandwiches.
I have never had it though.
I didn't think it was a regional thing?
Yes, I grew up in New York City and love fluffernutter sandwiches (with crunchy peanut butter!). I still enjoy it now and then.
I make them for the kids once in awhile. Fluff is also used in a fudge recipe I use around the holidays.
Fluffernutter sandwiches were very popular when I was in elementary school in PA. I prefer to use graham crackers to make them instead of bread.
As a USAF brat, I grew up traveling. When I was in 1st grade, we were stationed on Cape Cod. I came home from school one day to tell my mom that we had "Fluffernutter and Tuna Fish Sandwiches" for lunch. After her initial shock and disgust, she realized I meant we had a choice BETWEEN a Fluffernutter OR a Tuna Fish Sandwich. I never had another Fluffernutter sandwich after we moved from New England, so I assumed they were a regional thing there.
I am guessing Mr. Q is from either Massachusetts or Rhode Island.
Also, I love fluffernutters, but have not eaten one since I hit puberty. Although, at the mention of them, I went of the website and am considering buying a jar to enjoy a few before summer's over 🙂
I think Fluff may be an east/west thing. Seems like most people east of the Rockies have heard of it or even eaten it. I too ate fluffernutters as a kid in New England, Maryland and Texas.
I'm from Michigan. I remember going to my Grandma's house when I was like 15 and being in awe of the Kraft marshmallow fluff stuff… my mother certainly wouldn't use it. So I went to the store to buy my own jar and found this which I just assumed was the cheaper version of marshmallow fluff. I compared the two and loved that this fluff had recipes on the back for fluffernutters (which I did NOT like, by the way) and other interesting concoctions.
That is a Southern and Eastern thing. I grew up on the West coast and NEVER heard of the stuff until I went east for college. We had the house system instead of dorms, so when the kitchens were closed, they always had a table with bread, peanut butter, jelly and fluff out. Apparently I was one of the few who had never eaten a fluffernutter. A few years later someone used fluff instead of actual marshmallows in hot chocolate….it just isn't the same.
Definitely not a regional thing, considering fluffernutter sandwiches were common (well, as a treat) in Canada too!
@Scattered Mom – Where in Canada are you from? I am originally from Ontario. Maybe its popularity varies from province to porvince?
my mom made me 'fluffer-nutter' sandwiches (strange name, i know) when i was young. they consisted of bread, fluff and peanut butter. looking back, i'm not sure why she made those for me! i certainly won't be making any of those when we have children!
My mom used to buy that for me as a child for what I think is a MUCH better treat: To put a spoonful into hot chocolate.
I've never heard of putting it on a sandwich until a few years ago. Someone talked about a peanut butter and Fluff sandwich. Now I love peanut butter and pickle sandwiches so I might not have room to talk… but I don't think PB and Fluff is really appetizing.
Fluff was invented in Somerville, MA, so I'd guess he's a New Englander!
He's obviously from the south! I grew up on "fluffernutters with banana" aka- peanut butter, fluff, and banana. aka- delicious 🙂
My fiance grew up on cut apples with fluff and peanut butter- also delicious