Choke daddy?

July 21, 2007 1:04 PM

In a poor Dade county Florida elementary school in the late 70s, on some days they would serve us "Choke Daddy" sandwiches instead of hot food. What was that stuff?

I think it was 1977, and the school was Goulds Elementary. Choke daddy sandwiches (I don't think that was their official name) were a blob of sweet, sticky brownish goo between two slices of cheap white bread. I'm guessing they had to stretch their budget by serving these things occasionally. I don't remember the flavor much except that it was sweet, and fairly smooth textured. I think if I tried to recreate it today, I'd try combinations of peanut butter, corn syrup, white sugar and/or molasses. Yeah, seriously. They had to feed us something.

Anyone remember anything similar, and if so, any real information on what it was?

posted by seanmpuckett to food & drink (12 comments total)

Could it possibly have been maltose? I think it's more of a Chinese thing, but it's the first thing that comes to mind when I think 'sweet sticky brownish goo'.
posted by Comrade_robot at 1:29 PM on July 21, 2007

In late 60s Kansas public schools, we could sometimes get peanut butter/apple butter sandwiches at lunch, if we got there early enough. They usually didn't last long. A lot of kids in Florida once got fluffernutters, as a way of getting them to eat protein packed peanut butter, but I doubt you'd ever see those now on a school lunch menu.
posted by paulsc at 1:30 PM on July 21, 2007

Nutella? It was commonly fed to small children in at least one part of Canada around that time.
posted by sfenders at 1:49 PM on July 21, 2007

We used to get peanutbutter and honey sandwiches in NC in the sixties.
posted by konolia at 1:50 PM on July 21, 2007

Apple butter was the first thing I thought of. I went to Kansas public schools in the 70s/80s and I remember sometimes getting apple butter sandwiches on Fridays (I always thought it was because the lunch ladies were worn out from a whole week of cooking and they wanted something easy to prepare, and easy to clean up, for the end of the week).
posted by amyms at 1:52 PM on July 21, 2007

Going on your peanut butter suggestion - we used to have Lincoln Logs, which were peanut butter+powdered milk+corn syrup. It was more solid and chewable than regular peanut butter.
posted by LobsterMitten at 3:24 PM on July 21, 2007

Another possibility is something made of carob, which was popular as a health food alternative to chocolate in the late 70s. (a few recipes)
posted by LobsterMitten at 3:33 PM on July 21, 2007

Many times foodservice will mix up peanut butter and honey and/or peanut butter and jelly so it saves time not having to slap two things on two pieces of bread. Maybe you're thinking of PB and honey.
posted by FergieBelle at 5:45 PM on July 21, 2007

Peanut Butter and Karo. I remember the people who served it to me had some funny name for it, might've been Choke Daddy. These were just folks, though. Not a cafeteria. And Indiana in maybe 1982.

It was delicious.
posted by dirtdirt at 6:47 PM on July 21, 2007

My dad grew up in Tampa and Stuart in the 50s/60s and he ate a lot of peanut butter and honey sandwiches as a kid. I think they were more popular than pb&j in his circle. He didn't recognise the term Choke Daddy, however.

Incidentally, he also grew up eating peanut butter, banana, and mayonnaise sandwiches. He wants me to recommend them to you.
posted by mosessis at 2:29 PM on July 22, 2007

I can't go back in time to compare, but PB+Karo seems most like what I remember -- and would be the perfect ingredients for an extremely poor deep south elementary school to serve as a budget stopgap.

I have PB+honey samiches all the time and it's not like choke daddy at all -- honey has a distinctive flavour that wasn't part of the original. Tomorrow for lunch, I'll try PB+Karo and maybe a dash of molasses if that doesn't match it up. Will report back -- thanks.
posted by seanmpuckett at 2:31 PM on July 22, 2007

So, after trying it what's the verdict? If it is right I am going to be excited, because I keep meaning to try the peanut butter + Karo + white bread sandwich as an adult, and it would be even more exciting if I could call it Choke Daddy.
posted by dirtdirt at 11:25 AM on July 27, 2007