When Life Serves You Peanuts, Eat Jelly
I never gave much thought to the number of foods made using peanuts until we started tracking the recent peanut butter recalls. A quick visit to the local grocer confirmed that our choices, once in the thousands, had been narrowed to just a few.
The declining availability of peanut related products has left consumers, quite literally, in a jam. The situation, however, is one we can heartily embrace. Walking through the store, I was delightfully amazed by the diverse range of jelly products waiting to fill my cart. There was an entire aisle, nearly twenty feet high and a quarter mile long, lined on both sides, top to bottom, with nothing but jelly. In addition to your standard jelly, there was jam, marmalade, spreads and something called preserves. There was seeded and seedless. There was orange, grape, cherry, strawberry, blueberry, mango, muscadine, and dozens of others, including one flavor, called scuppernong. There was low-cal and fat-free. There was even sugar-free which, for a moment, flummoxed me greatly. I had long been under the mistaken impression that jelly was, for all intents and purposes, nothing but sugar. Very cool. Jelly can also be used for dips, sandwiches, cookies, cakes, streusels, and even, as a sugar substitute in rock candy. There are even vegetable jellies which make for a fantastic glaze on ribs and lamb chops.
Let’s be honest, the current supply of peanut butter has been spread a bit thin. Until the recalls are over, consider letting jelly take its place. Kids love jelly-filled candies and adults cherish American-style marmalade. And, in case you've been worried, there's simply no reason to let the salmonella outbreak ruin your Valentine's Day. Just buy Jelly Beans. They’re fat free, make for a lovely, thoughtful gift, and are delicious. Even better, some companies sell jelly beans that taste just like, well . . . peanut butter.
