Marshmallow, on the other hand, dates back to ancient Egypt, and marshmallow sauces were popular in the early 20th century (see marshmallow history). A marshmallow creme called Marshmallow Fluff was sold to ice cream parlors in 1910 by the Limpert Brothers, and Snowflake Marshmallow Creme was available around 1914. The first commercially successful, shelf-stable marshmallow creme, it was produced by the Curtis Marshmallow Factory of Melrose, Massachusetts.

Marshmallow Fluff wasn’t the first marshmallow creme, but it’s the one that endured: 94 years later, the brand is still around. No one remembers the Limperts or the Curtises.

In the middle of World War I (1914 to 1918), sugar shortages forced Query to move on to other work. When peace returned, he was content with his situation and sold the formula for $500 to two returning veterans, H. Alan Durkee and Fred L. Mower. The product was popular among local homemakers, and the door-to-door sales soon shifted to grocers’ shelves. The rest is history.

But what about the Fluffernutter sandwich?

There’s no specific reference that cites when and where the Fluffernutter was born. We know who created the first sandwich filled with peanut butter and marshmallow creme, but not who named it. Was it someone at Durkee-Mower who sought to publicize the name, a creative consumer whose recipe was published in the local paper or perhaps a sandwich sold at a luncheonette? Durkee-Mower records don’t say.

Who Made The First Sandwich With Peanut Butter & Marshmallow Creme

Emma Curtis, co-owner with her brother of the Curtis Marshmallow Factory, was prolific in the development of many recipes for Snowflake Marshmallow Creme. Some of the first product labels, dating to 1913, suggested using the creme in sandwiches, topped with chopped nuts.

In a recipe leaflet published in 1914, Emma suggests peanut butter as an accompaniment to the marshmallow creme. She thus gets the credit as the person most likely to have created what later became known as the Fluffernutter sandwich. Other claimants, please step forward! (Source.)

In a booklet published before the end of the war, in 1918, Emma introduced the Liberty Sandwich: marshmallow creme and peanut butter (Americans were urged to give up meat one day a week during the war). The same recipe appears on a label for SMAC, an acronym for Snowflake Marshmallow Creme, which the brand adopted in 1922. (Source.)

By 1935, peanut butter and marshmallow creme were an established pairing. An ad for SMAC presented many uses including, “Make sandwiches for the kiddies with SMAC and peanut butter.” But then, no “SMACwich” soared into history. Instead, we have the Fluffernutter. Did someone at Durkee-Mower, in the Boston area along with Curtis, see the SMAC ads and snitch the recipe, renaming it the Fluffernutter? That’s our [totally unsubstantiated] guess.

Ways To Celebrate National Fluffernutter Day

 
Toonie Moonie makes organic marshmallow creme and Bountiful Harvest makes sugar-free marshmallow creme.

There’s a website devoted to all things Marshmallow Fluff, including many recipes. Check it out!
  

Not a tomato: it’s a Fuyu persimmon (photo © J. Irkaejc | iStock Photo).

It’s nutritious, with almost 72% of the Daily Value of vitamin A (from all that beta carotene that makes it so orange), about 25% DV of fiber, more than 21% DV of vitamin C and 9% of copper.*

And many of us have never tasted one.

What is it?

It’s a persimmon: a tree fruit originally domesticated in ancient China, where it was considered a precious food.

The name first appears around 450 B.C.E., in a writing by Kong Ji, a grandson of Confucius. Almost 1300 centuries later, in the late 1880s, a Japanese persimmon arrived in Washington D.C., brought by a naval commander returning from Japan.

There are hundreds of persimmon varieties, ranging in color from pale yellow-orange to dark red-orange. Most of them are too astringent to eat.

But two commercial varieties are grown in California and are available from September through December.

 
Both varieties are the color of an orange tomato, but there is no relation. The two fruits branch off at the Order level (remember high school biology: Kingdom, Order, Family, Genus, Species).
 

 
How To Buy & Store Persimmons

Persimmons reach full orange color before they are fully ripe; they are harvested when crisp and firm. They often arrive at the market before they are ready to eat and develop flavor as they soften‡. A fully ripe persimmon is soft to the touch, with slightly wrinkled skin. If you find ripe persimmons, plan to eat them immediately: Overripe persimmons get mushy. One medium persimmon has about 118 calories.

How To Eat Persimmons

As a fresh fruit, Fuyu persimmons can be eaten like an apple. Since their skin isn’t eaten, Hachiya persimmons need only to be halved: Remove the seeds and spoon the fruit from the skin. With a little more work, you can enjoy persimmons in as many ways as other fruits:

 
Let us know how you enjoy persimmons!
 
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*Eaten daily, the beta-carotene in two persimmons can help to avoid breast cancer. The beta-carotene may also prevent infections such as colds and flu. Source. Other studies suggest that beta-carotene can reduce the incidence of heart attacks.

†Fuyu is also known as Sharon fruit, grown extensively on the Sharon plain of Israel, the northern half of the country’s coastal plain. It is also known as kaki after its botanical name, Diospyros kaki, as well as by an older name, “apple of the Orient.”

‡Ripen persimmons at room temperature in a paper bag with an apple or banana. You can store them in the refrigerator when ripe, but don’t keep them there for long or they’ll get mushy.
  

Sweetest Day, October 15th, was founded in 1921 by a Cleveland confectioner and philanthropist in order to do something nice for the neglected. More than 20,000 boxes of candy were distributed to orphans, newsboys, the aged and the poor. The tradition expanded to the entire Great Lakes region, with the third Saturday in October as the official date.

Over time, Sweetest Day became a celebration with loved ones, friends and colleagues: a day to make someone happy anywhere in the country.

You’ll definitely make someone happy with one of our sweet treat recommendations: outstanding products selected by THE NIBBLE editors as the best in their category. There are delicious sugar-free sweets as well.

Take a look at our best-tasting gift recommendations.

Spooky quesadillas? Sure, and they’re easy-to-make Halloween food—a light dinner for trick-or-treaters or for anyone staying at home who wants some Halloween fun (adults: enjoy them with a pumpkin ale; kids: something creepy green or blood red).

On to the spookadillas!
 
 
RECIPE: SPOOKADILLAS (MUMMY QUESADILLAS)

These mummy quesadillas look spookalicious and taste even better. Cook’s tip: If you’re making a lot of these, use a pizza wheel or kitchen scissors to quickly and easily cut the tortillas into strips.

If you like things a bit spicy, sprinkle red pepper flakes over the cheese; or use pepperjack or a jalapeño- or habanero-flavored Cheddar.

We served our quesadillas with a side of crudités: carrot and celery sticks, sliced radishes and bell pepper.

No dip is needed, but you can make an easy dip with plain yogurt and more of the salsa verde* (photo #2).

> Check out the different types of salsa.

Prep time is 15 minutes, cook time is 5 minutes.
 
Ingredients For 4 Quesadillas

 
Preparation

1. HEAT the oven to 450°F. Cover a baking sheet or pan with foil or parchment. Place 4 of the tortillas on the sheet. Cut each remaining tortilla into 12 strips, 1/4″ wide.

2. TOP each whole tortilla with 2 tablespoons salsa verde and 1/4 cup cheese. Place 2 olive halves on each for the eyes. Arrange the tortilla strips in a criss-cross pattern over the cheese. Spray the quesadillas with vegetable cooking spray.

3. BAKE for 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
 
 
BUYING SHREDDED CHEESE VS. SHREDDING YOUR OWN

You’ll often read that grating your own cheese is a cost saver. Yes, but you may be saving just a penny per ounce.

At FreshDirect.com, for example, Kraft shredded cheeses are $4.49 per eight-ounce package, or $.56/ounce. Kraft Cracker Barrel Cheese varieties are $5.49 per 10-ounce block, or or $.55/ounce.

The real reason to grate your own is a broader choice of cheeses. We love the whole variety of Cabot flavored Cheddar cheeses: Garlic & Herb, Horseradish, Hot Buffalo Wing, Hot Habanero, Smoky Bacon, Tomato Basil and Tuscan. The company also makes reduced-fat Cheddars: 50% Cheddar, 50% Jalapeño, 50% Pepper Jack, 75% Cheddar and 75% Habanero, all so good that you’d never guess they were reduced-fat.

To easily grate cheese, we use this OXO Good Grips box grater. It has a detachable container that catches, measures, and stores (with a snap-on lid) the grated cheese.

To those who read ingredient lists: Shredded cheese typically contains anti-caking agents—calcium carbonate, microcrystalline cellulose or potato starch, for example—which prevent the shreds from sticking together. These are natural ingredients, unlike chemical preservatives that some consumers seek to avoid.
 
 
HALLOWEEN TRIVIA

Jack o’ Lanterns were not originally pumpkins. To keep away spirits and ghosts on Samhain, people placed candles in their windows, using hollowed-out turnips and other vegetables as the holder.

Get spooked: more Halloween trivia.
 
 
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*Spanish for “green sauce,” salsa verde is made with tomatillos, green jalapeños or other green chiles, cilantro, garlic, lime juice, ground cumin, salt and pepper. Some recipes add scallions (green onions). Salsa verde is much thinner than a tomato-based salsa roja. A salsa verde can be fresh or cooked. It can be used as a sauce for meets and vegetables, eggs, grains, used as a dip, and of course with Tex-Mex specialties from burritos and enchiladas to refried beans, tacos, tostadas and quesadillas.

[1] There creepy and they’re spooky: mummy quesadillas (photo © Recipe © Pace Salsa | Campbell’s).

[2] Homemade salsa verde. Don’t panic: store-bought is fine here (photo © Empellón Restaurant | NYC).

[3] Shredded Cheddar. There’s no honor lost if you buy it pre-shredded (photo © Darryl Brooks | Dreamstime).

[4] If you prefer Gruyère or mozzarella, go for it (photo © Kiboka | Panther Media).

[5] Hojiblanca, a delicious black olive variety (photo © Dumet AG).

Of all the infused and flavored olive oils, basil-infused olive oil is the best seller in the U.S.

We love all infused olive oils, but can find ways to use versatile basil oil every day, from breakfast through dinner.

Ways To Use Basil Olive Oil

 
 
What Is Infused Olive Oil?

Infused olive oil is extra virgin olive oil into which a flavoring has been infused—a fruit (citrus, for example), herb (basil, oregano, rosemary), or spice (garlic). When an oil is infused, the flavoring is crushed and added to the vat of fresh-pressed olive oil, or it is crushed along with the olives. It is the superior technique for producing flavored oil.

You can also find “flavored” olive oil, a less expensive preparation. Instead of using fresh fruit, herbs, and spices, an alcohol-based flavor extract or essence is stirred into the pressed olive oil. It can taste good or it can taste artificial, depending on the producer.
 
Some delicious products, like Sonoma Farm Infused Olive Oil, use essence because it enables them to bottle smaller batches and send a fresher product when retailers order. Calivirgin, on the other hand, crushes fresh basil leaves together with the olives.
 
Check out Calivirgin’s recipes using basil olive oil.

Infuse your own basil olive oil with this easy recipe.