Earlier this afternoon I was alerted to the fact that today is National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day! Well, I couldn’t let the great occasion pass me by so I rapidly searched out a few fun PB&J pieces from the CollectingCandy.com archives and brought them together for today’s post. Let’s get to them!
Peanut Butter & Jelly is a classic kid flavor combination, so it should come as no surprise that several confectioners have sought to fashion ways to incorporate it into their candy products over the years.
The earliest piece in my collection to invoke this flavor combination is a PB&J peanut butter cup from Russell Stover, with Welch’s-branded grape filling:
Russell Stover – Welch’s Peanut Butter and Grape Jelly Cups – 1.6 oz candy package – early 1990’s
This reminds me that while we were getting all manner of limited edition flavor Reese’s cups a few years back, I don’t think we ever got a PB&J version. We got Elvis-themed Peanut Butter and Banana Reese’s but I think that’s as close as we came. Am I wrong and did we actually get a PB&J Reese’s? I’d sure like to see one!
Next up is another piece from the 1990’s which is as much snack as confection, but I include it as it is most certainly the single coolest PB&J piece in my collection.
Following on the heels of the successful launch of Planters P.B. Crisps in 1993, the company created two product line extensions; Chocolate Crisps and finally PB&J Crisps. PB&J Crisps were released right at the end of the line’s life cycle and so they’re awfully tough to find any information on. In fact, what is shown below is the only known example of an original PB&J Crisps package that you’ll see anywhere. Let’s take a look:
Nabisco-Planters – PB Crisps & Chocolate Crisps – snack packages – 1993-1994
And here’s the star of today’s post, Planter’s PB&J Crisps!
Nabisco-Planters – PB&J Crisps – snack package – 1995
Planters PB Crisps, Chocolate Crisps and PB&J Crisps – 1992-1995
Those look pretty tasty, don’t they? Anyone remember PB&J Crisps?
Another 1990’s PB&J product comes in the form of Cadbury-of-Canada’s superhero candy bar, PB Jammer:
Canada – Cadbury PB Jammer – chocolate candy bar wrapper – 1990’s
As we jump up to the modern era, there are a number of PB&J-flavored confections to showcase.
The first up is a PB&J edition of Mary Jane’s from the Necco company that was part of a four-flavor Halloween “Wicked Mix” assortment back in 2009-2010. Peanut Butter & Banana, Peanut Butter & Vanilla as well as Smores were the other three flavors included:
Necco – Mary Jane Wicked Mix candy bag – 2009
Here are the individual wrappers – I believe the purplish wrapper was the PB&J:
Necco – Mary Jane Wicked Mix candy wrappers – 2009
Next up is a PB&J treat that is currently available from Trader Joes and has become one of their signature items – it is certainly their best known confectionery offering:
Trader Joe’s PB&J milk chocolate bar – candy bar wrapper – July 2013
From the West Coast and the Annabelle Candy Company is a PB&J edition of their classic Abba-Zaba taffy bar:
Annabelle’s – Abba-Zaba – Strawberry-Peanut Butter – PB&J with real peanut butter – candy wrapper – 2012
And finally, the last PB&J offerings to share today are also the most recent. You can still find these on shelves and they are simply named PB&J’s. There are two different flavors and each comes in a box with cute little peanut and fruit mascot characters illustrated on them:
Baron – PB&J’s – grape jelly filling – chocolate bar candy box – 2012
Baron – PB&J’s – strawberry jelly filling – chocolate bar candy box – 2012
And that’s everything I was able to quickly bring together to mark the National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day. Hope you dug it, and I hope you get to enjoy an honest-to-goodness PB&J sandwich soon.
See you next time!
P.S. Sadly, my old fave, Peter Paul’s Peanut Butter with No Jelly didn’t make the cut today as it doesn’t really count as a PB&J. Well, how about just one?
- Peter-Paul-peanut-butter-with-No-Jelly-candy-bar-wrapper-1970s
Planters P.B. Crisps were great! They were just like Nutter Butter’s wafer style cookie snack. Remember Pop-Tarts peanut butter & jelly? How about Concord peanut butter & jelly bubble gum!
PopTartsBox: Concord PB&J Jar bubble gum! That’s one I forgot!!
Love those Mr. Peanut bags!
Sometimes I DREAM of eating P.B. Crisps like it was yesterday.
I remember going to the store with my parents and getting these every time. Now that I do grocery shopping on my own time, I wish they still existed so I could by 20 bags at a time. That is how much I absolutely LOVE P.B. Crisps.
The shape was what made it. Honestly, I could probably get plain wafers and pb and simulate the flavor… But that awesome 3D shape was as fun as it was tasty!
If only!!! Hahah…
Awesome post!
Hi, I have been trying to find the name of my favorite chocolate bar when I was a kid. I saw that you collected rare and old wrappers so I thought you might have heard of it, but if it wasn’t listed here, I’m guessing you may not have.
It was oval-ish and pretty thick, and was 15 cents so probably in the 1973-75 era. It had a jelly center, surrounded by lots of peanut butter and covered in milk chocolate. It had a bright fuschia colored (metalic?) wrapper. I was allowed to get one each week from the mom and pop store when I bought my comic books. It was right in the candy display next to the KitKats, Marathons and other regular candy bars, so it was not a special Easter product, just a regular candy bar that was available each week until some company stopped making them. (I was from Virgina, the Delmarva Peninsula, so the distributor might have come from Maryland?)
If you are not familiar with this bar, perhaps some of your other candy wrapper collector friends might be?
PS I tried one of those Russel Stover’s cups when they came out and was unimpressed.