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Fig roll

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Fig Roll
Homemade fig rolls
TypePastry
Place of originWestern Asia
Main ingredientsFig paste

The fig roll or fig bar is a biscuit or cookie consisting of a rolled cake or pastry filled with fig paste.

History

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Figs have been a popular food since ancient times, originating in the areas of the Mediterranean and Asia Minor.

Early Egyptians may have invented the first fig roll - a simple pastry made with fig paste and a flour-based dough.[1] In the Middle Ages, the arab physician Ibn Butlan is recorded to have recommended eating figs with biscuits, or sugared bread - an early instance of what could be considered a fig roll.[2]

Fig rolls were popular with British immigrants in the United States in the late 19th century.[3]

Fig Newtons

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Main article: Fig Newtons
A plastic tray of mass-produced Fig Newtons
two fig newton cookies
Fig Newtons

Fig Newtons are a popular mass-produced cookie similar to a fig roll. In 1892 James Henry Mitchell, a Florida engineer and inventor, received a patent for a machine that could produce a hollow tube of cookie dough and simultaneously fill it with jam.[4][5][6] The machine consisted of two funnels, one inside the other, with the outer funnel creating the dough tube and the inner funnel filling that tube with fig jam.[6]

At the same time, Philadelphia baker and fig lover Charles Roser was developing a recipe for a pastry based on the homemade fig roll likely brought to the US by immigrants from Britain.[4][6] Roser approached the Cambridgeport, Massachusetts based Kennedy Biscuit Company, who agreed to take on production and sales.[4]

Kennedy Biscuit Company had recently become associated with the New York Biscuit Company, and after merger to form Nabisco, trademarked the product as the Fig Newton.[4] The cookie was named after the Massachusetts town of Newton.[6] It was one of the first commercially-produced baked goods in the United States.[6]

See also

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Footnotes and references

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  1. ^ "Have a rootin' tootin' celebration of Fig Newton Day". Herald Mail Media. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
  2. ^ Collingham, Lizzie. "Crumbs! A history of biscuits in 15 fantastic facts – from flatulence cure to phenomenal fuel". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
  3. ^ Bellis, Mary. "Fig Newton: History and Invention of the Cookies". ThoughtCo. Dotdash Meredith. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d "Fig Newton - History of Cookies". Archived from the original on July 16, 2012. Retrieved 2011-10-21.
  5. ^ Parks, Stella (2017-08-15). BraveTart: Iconic American Desserts. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 9780393634273.
  6. ^ a b c d e Bellis, Mary. "The Machine, the Recipe, and the Merger". ThoughtCo. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
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