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

History

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. 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.

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

Commercially-produced examples

Fig Newtons<span class="anchor" id="Mass production"></span>

thumb|alt=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. 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.

Jacob's Fig rolls are produced by the Jacob Fruitfield Food Group. They are the most popular brand of biscuit in Ireland, with sales of 8.3 million packets each year.

See also

  • Birnbrot
  • Fig cake (fruit)
  • List of cookies
  • List of pastries
  • Makroudh
  • Cuccidati

Footnotes and references

  • 21st Century Fig Festival - a comparison of fig rolls
  • Felicity Cloake: How to make the perfect fig rolls