Overall, I'm not super picky. As long as the peanut butter isn't grainy or gritty, I'm okay with any brand. Similarly, any jam or jelly is fine as long as it isn't just pectin with some flavors the way cheaper generics are.

That being said, the PB&J is one of the perfect sandwiches. They're satisfying in a way that they don't need anything else to be satisfying. So I have preferences when I have a choice.

So, bread. Top pick is my own white sandwich bread. It's nothing crazy, just a slightly modified version of the King Arthur sandwich recipe where I make a tangzhong with milk.

After that, I go to Nature's Own as my bread brand of choice since if I'm not making sandwich bread, the other kinds of bread I make aren't great for a pb&j. They make a Hawaiian loaf that is perfect for this. Then their butter bread, then their honey wheat.

If none of those are available, then whatever white bread is on hand because white is better than wheat for pb&js

PB wise, JIF is my preferred. It's thick, not too oily, and spreads evenly with little effort. It tastes peanutty and goes down easy.

After that it's Peter Pan, but I'm not a big fan of all the extra oil they use.

Beyond those, I can't say I have a preference beyond non gritty.

I am also agnostic regarding crunchy vs creamy. As I've aged, I have trouble with crunchy sometimes because I have tender spots from injuries over the years and teeth that have been damaged from those injuries. So I go crunchy less often, but not because I dislike it.

Now, the jelly part is more complicated. It isn't just brand, because one brand's grape may suck, but their apple be amazing.

Fruit wise, apple and grape are my preferred. Then plum, then blueberry or mixed berry. Strawberry comes in last. However, after plum on that list, i tend to not want them with peanut butter very often because they either clash with it for my tastes, or they're so yummy I don't want anything with them at all, other than putting them on some form of bread.

Home made is best unless whoever is making it just doesn't know what they're doing.

Brand wise, I favor Smuckers overall. They're reliable, have good texture for mass produced, and you can usually have your pick of the common flavors at any store. However, Welch's strawberry is better than smuckers.

Polaner all fruit is good stuff for sure, but you run into them not having ideal flavors for a pb&j, and being expensive.

Bonne maman, however is probably the best overall, but is harder to find. Technically, though, they do preserves and marmalades, which aren't always pb&j friendly. They do a grape "spread" that's essentially a jam though.

Dutch kettle does a superb strawberry.

Now, some generics can be good, but they aren't reliable. You might get two jars a week apart and they don't taste the same. Publix tends to be the most reliable store brand I've run across.

There's also other fruit spreads out there. Compotes and butters, mainly. I personally think they can't count as a J for a pb&j because the textures are wrong. Marmalades and preserves push the limit sometimes, but something like applebutter is well outside the limit, despite making an incredible match with PB on bread.

The fruit part of a pb&j can't be runny at all. If it is, you lose the mouth feel, and that's unacceptable to fit the "recipe" of a pb&j. So really loose marmalade is right out because it doesn't hold up right.

I'm not super purist about the peanut butter and jelly parts. It doesn't have to be only jellies. It does, however, need to be some kind of preserved fruit with structure. No honey, no molasses, no syrups, nothing like that. It's a different name at that point.

But, if it ain't peanut butter, what the fuck is the point? It's a different sandwich at that point. There's nothing wrong with almond butter, or cashew butter, or any other nut butter (heh). But it ain't a PB&J at that point, so you can't just call it that and expect someone not to throw it at you if you serve it to them under that name. You call it anything else you want, and I'll be fine. There's a fucking reason peanut butter is in the name of the damn sandwich, and it ain't because all "butters" are the same thing. You can get by with that shit in jellies because some people call all sweet preserved fruit spreads jelly or jam. But you can fuck right off with the almond butter on a pb&j, you troglodyte. That's an AB&J, and it is yummy, but it ain't the real deal.