A peanut butter sandwich could help a creative kid chef pay for college. The makers of Jif® peanut butter, the number one choice of choosy moms, announced today a call-for-entries for the Sixth Annual Jif Most Creative Peanut Butter Sandwich Contest(TM). The grand prize is a $25,000 scholarship fund with each of the four runners-up receiving a $2,500 scholarship fund. Parents can help their kids (ages 6-12) enter this nationwide contest between August 1, 2007 and November 15, 2007.

“We are once again excited to encourage parents to get creative with their children in the kitchen for an opportunity to win a college scholarship fund,” says Maribeth Badertscher, Director, Corporate Communications, The J.M. Smucker Company.

The Jif Most Creative Peanut Butter Sandwich Contest(TM) is intended to foster creativity and encourage parents and children to spend time together in the kitchen. Over the past five years, thousands of kid chefs from across the country have reinvented the classic peanut butter sandwich. From sushi rolls and lettuce wraps to empanadas and paninis, kids have been inspired from all different culinary styles and cultural backgrounds to create a “sandwich” with their favorite foods.

The winner of last year’s most creative peanut butter sandwich was inspired by a love of sushi. Twelve-year-old Alexandra Yoder of Fort Wayne, Indiana created “Peanut Butter Rolls - Sushi Style,” consisting of Jif Creamy peanut butter, strawberry cream cheese and fruit rolled in a crepe, cut and served “sushi style.” Alexandra added more creativity to her sandwich by finishing off the “sushi” with pretzel rods for chopsticks and chocolate yogurt for soy sauce.

The Jif Most Creative Peanut Butter Sandwich Contest(TM) is open to children ages 6 to 12, and sandwiches will be judged on the following criteria: creativity, nutritional balance, taste, appearance and ease of preparation. For Official Rules and entry form visit www.jif.com. Entries must be postmarked by November 15, 2007 and received by November 22, 2007: Jif Most Creative Peanut Butter Sandwich Contest(TM), Cohn & Wolfe, 292 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10017. Ten finalists will be selected by a panel of judges in December and posted on www.jif.com in January as part of a nationwide online vote. Five finalists will ultimately be selected to compete in a live judging event in New York City in March 2008.

For more information about other Jif tips, recipes, contests and promotions log on to www.jif.com. Also on the Web site, families can see never-before-seen footage of the 5th Annual Jif Most Creative Peanut Butter Sandwich Contest(TM).

About The J.M. Smucker Company

The J. M. Smucker Company is the leading marketer and manufacturer of fruit spreads, peanut butter, shortening and oils, ice cream toppings, sweetened condensed milk and health and natural foods beverages in North America. Its family of brands includes Smucker’s®, Jif®, Crisco®, Pillsbury®, Eagle Brand®, R.W. Knudsen Family®, Hungry Jack®, White Lily® and Martha White® in the United States, along with Robin Hood®, Five Roses® and Bick’s® in Canada. The Company remains rooted in the Basic Beliefs of Quality, People, Ethics, Growth and Independence established by its founder and namesake more than a century ago. Since 1998, the Company has appeared on FORTUNE Magazine’s annual listing of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in the United States, ranking number one in 2004. For more information about the company, visit www.smuckers.com.

Pillsbury is a trademark of The Pillsbury Company, used under license.

Source: PR Newswire, August 1, 2007 and the American Peanut Council Newsletter.

Comments(0)

The triple-decker marshmallow berry soy sandwich is a variation on the classic peanut butter and jelly. Larry Crowe | Associated PressFor many families, the morning is the ultimate in deadline cooking.

Soon, parents will be getting the children out of bed, into their clothes and onto the school bus. Just figuring out what to stuff into their lunch boxes that won’t get traded or tossed is enough to keep most parents busy.

And perhaps that at least partly explains the persistent popularity of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Which is great, assuming your children don’t attend a school that is peanut-free.

Motivated by food-allergy concerns, many schools now either say no to nuts or have special peanut-free lunch tables.

So what’s a parent to do if junior simply has to dine on PB&J? First, chat with your doctor, then head to a natural-foods store, where there are options aplenty.

Natural-foods stores excel at offering sandwich fixings that are free of peanuts and other possible allergens. Once your doctor has told you which ingredients are safe, assembling kid-pleasing sandwiches is easy.

For example, if your child lives for Fluffernutter sandwiches but can’t eat eggs (Fluff includes egg whites), try Suzanne’s Ricemellow Creme, a gluten-free, vegan marshmallow spread made from brown rice syrup.

And if peanuts are off the table, try a jar of soy nut butter, many brands of which brag of being produced in nut-free factories. Opt for a sweetened variety, which mellows the flavor of the soy nuts.

If some nuts are acceptable but you’re looking for a peanut-free alternative, consider chocolate hazelnut spread. It’s especially delicious with marshmallow spread.

Also, consider thinking beyond nuts and their soy alternatives. Check out pear and apple butters, which are similar to jam and often contain little or no sugar.

Canned sweet potato and pumpkin pie purŽes also make great sandwich spreads. Some varieties are sweetened and spiced, making them an easy way to slip some produce into the sandwich. If you can’t find sweetened varieties, mix in a bit of honey and cinnamon. Refrigerate the leftovers for use in other sandwiches later.

Here are ideas for peanut butter and jelly alternatives that come together in a flash. (see full article for recipes).

Source: Associated Press, Lexington Herald-Leader, 8/5/07 and the American Peanut Council Newsletter.

Comments(0)

ConAgra Foods Inc. said Monday it plans this month to reopen the South Georgia plant where thousands of jars of peanut butter linked to a national outbreak of salmonella were filled.

The Omaha-based company said it was planning to reopen its Sylvester plant after spending at least $15 million on renovations that include repairing the roof, installing new equipment and creating a design to better separate raw materials and the finished product.

“Right now we’re in the final stages of getting everything ready to produce Peter Pan peanut butter there,” said Stephanie Childs, a company spokeswoman.

The plant was shut down in February after health officials linked the Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter to a salmonella outbreak. More than 600 people in 47 states reported becoming ill, and the company faces lawsuits in several states.

The company traced the outbreak to three problems at the plant last August.

The plant’s roof leaked during a rainstorm, and the sprinkler system went off twice because of a faulty sprinkler, which the company said was repaired. The moisture from those three events mixed with dormant salmonella bacteria in the plant that the company said likely came from raw peanuts and peanut dust.

The plant was cleaned thoroughly after the roof leak and sprinkler problem, but the company said the salmonella remained and somehow came in contact with peanut butter before it was packaged.

The outbreak cost ConAgra $66 million before taxes during the fiscal year and hurt peanut butter sales, which still generated about $92 million in 2007 versus $147 million in 2006, according to the company’s latest earnings report.

The Peter Pan brand will be back on store shelves this month, although initially it will be produced at another plant, Childs said.

Another Georgia company, Castleberry’s Foods off Augusta, is involved in a recall of canned goods found to contain botulism.

Source: The Associated Press, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 08/06/07 and the American Peanut Council Newsletter.

Comments(0)

Healthy fats appear to be the secret gourmet nut ingredient that prevents heart attack Adding to the power of the healthy fats, the fiber in nuts has also been shown to lower cholesterol levels.

“Our epidemiological studies have shown eating about one ounce of gourmet nuts every day will reduce the risk of heart attack in the long run by 30%,” Frank Hu, MD, PhD, associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, said in July 2003.

Nuts can also help lower cholesterol and raise HDL “good” cholesterol. “Almost all tyes of gourmet nuts have high amounts of mono- and polyunsaturated fats, and when you substitute this kind of good fat for carbohydrates and saturated fat, you will lower cholesterol ” Hu said

Comments(0)

About one-half of all edible peanuts poduced in the United States are used to make peanut butter and peanut spreads. By law and industry standard, any product labeled “peanut butter” in the U. S. must be at least 90% peanuts. The remaining 10% may be salt, sweetener and an emulsifier (hardened vegetable oil which prevents the peanut oil from separating and rising to the top).

Other similar products which don’t subscribe to the 90%/10% rule are labeled peanut spread. Many are reduced fat products with added vitamins and minerals. These standards are subscribed to by the industry to assure consumers of uniformly nutritious products.

The ancient South American Indians were the first to make and eat peanut butter, and one of the peanut foods invented by Dr. George Washington Carver was similar to peanut butter. Historical reference has it, however, that peanut butter was invented by a physician in St. Louis about 1890 as a health food for the elderly. No one remembers the physician’s name, although records show that in 1903 Ambrose W. Straub of St. Louis patented a machine to make peanut butter. Also during that period (1895), Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (of breakfast cereal fame) patented the process of making peanut butter for the patients at his Battle Creek Sanitarium, a health food retreat in Michigan.

Basically, all peanut butter is made by a similar process. First the raw, shelled peanuts are roasted and cooled, then the skins are removed (blanched.) Some manufacturers split the kernels and remove the heart of the peanut as well. The hearts can be saved to make peanut oil and the skins left over from blanching can be sold for animal feed. The blanched peanut kernels are electronically sorted or hand picked one last time to be sure only good, wholesome kernels are used in peanut butter.

Commercial peanut butter is made very similar to our old fashioned home cooked recipe. The peanuts are ground, usually through two grinding stages, to produce a smooth, even-textured butter. The peanuts are heated during the grinding to about 170 degrees F . Once the emulsifiers are added and mixed, the butter is cooled rapidly to 120 degrees F or below. This crystallizes the emulsifiers, thus trapping the peanut oil that was released by the grinding. To make chunky peanut butter, peanut granules are added to the creamy peanut butter. The peanut butter is then packed into containers for sale at stores.

Comments(0)