The banana sandwich is to Americans what Marmite is to the Brits: either you love it, or it the very idea makes you want to hide.
If you happen to live North of the Mason-Dixon line it’s very possible that you’ve never even heard of it. But even if the banana sandwich isn’t on your radar, one can’t deny this mushy mix has its place in the culinary canon.
For most of history bananas were starchy and bitter, only sweetening with cooking, but by the 1800s, the mutated sweet banana we know today was becoming abundant and affordable in the U.S., with new plantation farms in nearby Central and South America.
Commercial peanut butter was invented around the same time in 1895 by cereal-giant Dr. Harvey Kellogg. It would go on to keep soldiers fed and happy on the front lines during WWII, a memory their families would relive at the supermarket in the decades to come.
Pinpointing a first date for the peanut butter and banana sandwich might be impossible, but by the late 1950s the PB&B was common enough in Elvis Presley’s native Mississippi that the King of Rock was calling it his favorite food. From then on it became known simply as “The Elvis.” Mashed banana and peanut butter on white or Hawaiian bread, sometimes fried with bacon and mayonnaise, sometimes not, NPR recently renamed it “The (Sandwich That Helped Kill) Elvis.”
After almost 70 years, the banana sandwich (and its many variants) is cherished enough in Dixieland that Southern Living magazine dubbed it “the avocado toast of the South.”
How this Southern snack ended up in the hands of a Bronx-Jewish family transplanted to SoCal is anyone’s guess, but my mom’s frozen peanut butter banana “sandwiches” remain to this day a cherished treat in my home and in the homes of my childhood friends.
A layer of peanut butter nestled between ripe banana slices then frozen, this simple, bread-less PB&B is a far cry from the King’s cholesterol-laden death-wish. It’s perfect as an afternoon snack or even a healthy dessert, masquerading as something more decadent.
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frozen pb&B
2 ripe bananas, peeled
2-4 Tbs organic peanut butter (no-stir, or oil poured out; can also sub in your favorite nut butter)
directions
- Slice bananas in quarters (crosswise and lengthwise) so two bananas should make 8 pieces. (If the bananas are very large, you may want to cut into sixths, yielding 12 pieces for two bananas.)
- Spread a thick layer of peanut butter on the flat side of four of the banana slices, and top with the remaining slices to make 4 sandwiches.
- Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and freeze for several hours.
- To serve, unwrap the plastic halfway, hold in a napkin and gnaw away; or slice the frozen banana into 1/4 inch “wheels” and eat individually.
PREP TIME: 5 MINS. FREEZE TIME: 4 HOURS. YIELDS 4-6 SERVINGS.
