
In fact, it’s the odd Texas barbecue, backyard gathering, or church potluck that doesn’t have banana pudding on hand. If you guessed Texas, you would be correct. That said, most appearances of banana pudding throughout the years have been in Southern publications, with one particular location reigning supreme. While its origins are unknown, the initial recipes appeared in the New York media, which raises more questions than answers. Now, most people associate banana pudding with the South. For Texans, Aza-Jean Jones was a banana-pudding pioneer. Jones may not have been the first to add boxed cookies to her banana custard, she was still one of the earliest.

Why it took 23 years for it to be combined with a custard enriched with bananas is a mystery, as is the name of the person who originated the idea, though the first published recipe with the cookies was in August of 1921 in the Bloomington, Illinois Pantagraph. (The name was shortened to Nilla Wafers in 1967). Vanilla Wafers were introduced by Nabisco in 1898.

It wasn’t until 1921 that the thin vanilla cookie produced by the National Biscuit Company (soon to be known as Nabisco) became a key ingredient instead. The earliest renditions, however, mixed a custard with said fruit, along with either bread crumbs or sponge cake. It was for banana pudding, and hers called for milk, eggs, vanilla, bananas, and 20 cents worth of a store-bought cookie known as Vanilla Wafers.īanana pudding was not a new treat, as recipes had appeared in cookbooks and newspapers since the late 1800s.

In the summer of 1923, Aza-Jean Jones of the Central Texas town of Sidney shared a recipe in a local newspaper.
