Fluffy Fun With Food
I recently came into possession of a cookbook pamphlet called “Fun With Food by Lynne White”. While it is not dated, I am making a best guess estimate of printing as the late 40’s, based on the illustrations in the book and the backstory I found online from the company website. I have many cookbooks and pamphlets claiming to make food and baking “fun” but this one caught me by surprise as it was published by Marshmallow Fluff and all the recipes feature Fluff.
I made note of a few recipes to try right away — Marshmallow Fluff Fudge, Chocolate Crispy Bars, and from the Sandwich Fillings section — Peanut Butter and Orange and Peanut Butter and Cherry.
If you’re not from the New England region, you might be wondering about sandwich fillings using Marshmallow Fluff. I’m not from that region either, but my husband is, and it was his love of Marshmallow Fluff and Peanut Butter sandwiches (called Fluffernutters) that he grew up on that first piqued my interest in these Fluff recipes.
None of these recipes disappoint! They are super easy to make and don’t last long.
The recipe for Chocolate Crispy Bars got me to wondering — is it possible that Marshmallow Fluff invented the first crisped rice treat recipe? I know from other leaps down food history rabbit holes, that the Kellogg’s “Marshmallow Squares” recipe was developed in 1939 by two Kellogg’s Home Economists, Malitta Jensen and Mildred Day. The recipe first appeared in newspaper ads to sell Kellogg’s Rice Krispies and Campfire brand marshmallows. My research brings the recipe to being printed on the box in 1942 (I could be off by a year). And guess what, the original recipe is not the same then as it is now!
Without taking credit away from Ms. Jensen and Ms. Day, I wanted to know if it was possible that Marshmallow Fluff was the original inspiration for Kellogg’s famous recipe.
Luckily, Marshmallow Fluff shares a wonderfully detailed story of their company on their company website.
In May 1920 two men named H. Allen Durkee and Fred L. Mower who had graduated from the same high school and who were both veterans of WWI, announced in a local Lynn, Massachusetts newspaper that they had formed a partnership to manufacture Marshmallow Fluff. They had been working together previously, making candies, but felt a joint $500 investment in the purchase of a formula for Fluff from a man named Archibald Query was a good idea. By night the two created Fluff from their kitchen and sold it door-to-door during the daytime.
Local housewives loved the product and eventually local grocers added it to their store shelves.
As years when by Durkee and Mower moved into a bigger factory and hired additional employees.
Durkee and Mower became pioneers in radio advertising when in 1930 they began to sponsor the weekly “Flufferettes” radio show, broadcasting all over New England. The 15-minute show aired Sunday evenings before Jack Benny.
An ongoing storyline of the radio show included a fictional scholar who frequently ended the show by disappearing to continue his work writing a mysterious book. When the nature of the book was finally revealed in the last episode, listeners are (maybe or maybe not) surprised to learn that the book he was writing all along was a collection of recipes for cakes, pies, candies, frostings and other confections that could be made with Marshmallow Fluff. It was named the Yummy Book. Marshmallow Fluff has updated the original book many times and still makes it available for free on their website.
When WWII began for the US, Durkee and Mower had a decision to make about how they would continue production given the sugar rationing shortages. In order to not alter the ingredients of their recipes, which would have lowered the quality, they were forced to cut back on production considerably. The company participated in the war effort by converting part of their factory to wrap war critical electronic and optical parts in special waterproof packages. Some of their advertising helped promote victory gardens in cooperation with the Massachusetts State War Garden Committee and radio advertising went to support the armed forces, particularly the Navy, where two of Allen Durkee’s sons served during the war. Can you imagine what was in their care packages sent to them?!?
In the years that followed WWII, the company moved forward with changes to their factory size and efficiency, the jar shape (based on input from Massachusetts housewives) and added even more attention to the quality of Fluff. Still to this day, because of the sanitary environment and practices of the factory, it is not necessary to refrigerate Marshmallow Fluff even though it still contains no preservative of any kind.
By the mid-1950s Fluff was collaborating with Nestle and printing recipes for fudge in Ladies Home Journal and other magazines. The same award-winning recipe can be found on the back of Fluff labels and in the online cookbook.
A 1966 Marshmallow Fluff co-promotion with the Kellogg’s Company modified the well-loved Marshmallow Treat by adding chocolate, dried fruit, and sunflower seeds. (Recipe also found in the free online cookbook.)
The company’s history page covered all this information splendidly but one thing they only hinted at was the identify of Lynne White in their recipe for “Lynne’s Cheesecake”. Who was Lynne White?
Additional research found another foodie historian asking the same question. In a written response, they confirmed that Lynne White was, like Betty Crocker, a fictional character created to be a feminine voice answering questions about their product. Her first name was a tribute to the city that Marshmallow Fluff called home, Lynn, Massachusetts and her last name came from the color that comes to mind when one thinks of Marshmallow Fluff.
So, back to my original question about who first brought the rice crisps treat to us? Marshmallow Fluff offered their first recipes in 1930. The wonderful women at Kellogg’s introduced their version in 1939. You be the judge while I wander off to enjoy more of this wonderful fudge!