School Lunch: Peanut Butter and Tomato Soup

A rather thick soup that tastes as if tomato soup and peanut butter are fighting, and nobody wins

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City/Region: United States of America

Time Period: 1934

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I would not have been thrilled to get this interesting soup as a child when all I wanted was a Lunchables, but it comes straight out of an official school lunch cookbook from the Great Depression. It may not be the most delicious soup, but it was certainly economical. To complete the meal, serve it forth with a butter sandwich (included in the recipe below, though it’s just some butter slapped between two pieces of bread) and the wonderful Hermit Cookies from the same cookbook.

“4 No. 10 cans tomatoes
10 ounces flour (2 ½ cups)
3 pounds peanut butter
½ pound peeled onions chopped
2 tablespoons salt

Press the canned tomatoes through a sieve to remove the seeds. Mix 2 quarts of the strained tomato, the flour, and the peanut butter until smooth. Add the onions to the remaining tomato and heat to the boiling point. Add some of the hot tomato to the flour and peanut mixture, then combine with the hot tomato. Add the salt. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly.

Total measure cooked, about 13 quarts; 52 servings, each 1cup. Total cost, wholesale prices, Washington, D. C., February 1934, $2.18; per serving, $0.0419.”

— School Lunches With Recipes to Serve 50 Children by the United States Department of Agriculture Bureau of Home Economics, Washington, D.C., 1934

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Ingredients:

Soup

• 1 #10 (6 lb 6 oz; 2.9 kg) can of whole peeled tomatoes in juice
• 2/3 cup (75 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 1/3 cups (340 g) smooth peanut butter, no sugar added is best
• 1/2 cup (55 g) onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 tsp salt

Butter Sandwich

• 2 slices of bread, whatever you prefer
• Salted butter, softened

Instructions:

1. For the soup: Puree the tomatoes, then press through a sieve to remove any remaining seeds. Discard the seeds.
2. Transfer 1 cup of the tomato puree into a medium bowl and add the flour and peanut butter. Mix well with a spatula or wooden spoon until it is as smooth as you can get it.
3. In a large pot, combine the remaining tomato puree and the onion. Heat it over medium-high until it starts to boil.
4. Once boiling, take 1 cup of the hot tomato-onion mixture and add it to the peanut butter mixture and stir to combine. Add this back to the pot and stir well. Add the salt.
5. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring constantly.
6. For the sandwich: Spread the softened butter on one slice of the bread, as much as you like, then top with the other slice. Cut in half if desired.
7. To serve: After the soup has cooked for 10 minutes, ladle into bowls and serve it forth, accompanied by the butter sandwich, a red delicious apple, milk, and a Hermit Cookie.

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