{{short description|Snack food}} {{Infobox prepared food | name = Fig roll | image = Fig rolls (homemade).jpg | caption = Homemade fig rolls | alternate_name = | place_of_origin = Western Asia | region = | creator = | type = Pastry | served = | main_ingredient = Fig paste | variations = | calories = | other = }}
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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Have a rootin' tootin' celebration of Fig Newton Day |url=https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/story/lifestyle/2018/01/10/have-a-rootin-tootin-celebration-of-fig-newton-day/116556966/ |publisher=Herald Mail Media |access-date=22 August 2024}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Collingham |first1=Lizzie |author-link=Lizzie Collingham |title=Crumbs! A history of biscuits in 15 fantastic facts – from flatulence cure to phenomenal fuel |url=https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/oct/18/crumbs-a-history-of-biscuits-in-15-fantastic-facts-from-flatulence-cure-to-phenomenal-fuel |publisher=The Guardian |access-date=22 August 2024}}</ref>
Fig rolls were popular with British immigrants in the United States in the late 19th century.<ref name="ThoughtCo">{{cite web |last1=Bellis |first1=Mary |title=Fig Newton: History and Invention of the Cookies |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/fig-newton-history-1991793 |website=ThoughtCo. |publisher=Dotdash Meredith |access-date=22 August 2024}}</ref>
==Commercially-produced examples== ===Fig Newtons<span class="anchor" id="Mass production"></span>=== {{main|Fig Newtons}} 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.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rWtIDQAAQBAJ&q=+fig+newtons|title=BraveTart: Iconic American Desserts|last=Parks|first=Stella|date=2017-08-15|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=9780393634273|language=en}}</ref> 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.<ref name="ThoughtCo" />
At the same time, Philadelphia baker and fig lover Charles Roser was developing a recipe for a pastry based on the British homemade fig roll. Roser approached the Cambridgeport, Massachusetts–based Kennedy Biscuit Company, who agreed to take on production and sales.<ref name="ThoughtCo" />
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. The cookie was named after the Massachusetts town of Newton. It was one of the first commercially-produced baked goods in the United States.<ref name="ThoughtCo" />
===Jacob's and Bolands Fig Rolls=== Valeo Foods produces two snack foods similar to traditional fig rolls - "Jacob's Fig rolls", which are sold only in Ireland, and "Bolands Fig rolls" (named after Boland's Bakery) which are also sold in the United Kingdom.<ref>{{cite web |last1=McElwain |first1=Aoife |title=From Fig Rolls to Mikado: Can you copyright a biscuit? |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/food-and-drink/from-fig-rolls-to-mikado-can-you-copyright-a-biscuit-1.3476394#:~:text=As%20for%20the%20case%20of,name%20still%20tastes%20as%20good. |website=The Irish Times |access-date=15 October 2025 |language=en}}</ref>
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.<ref>{{cite web |last1=O'Connell |first1=Siobhán |title=How Jacob's gets the ads out of the Fig Rolls |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/how-jacob-s-gets-the-ads-out-of-the-fig-rolls-1.1203551 |website=The Irish Times |access-date=15 October 2025 |language=en}}</ref>
==See also== {{portal|Food}} * Birnbrot * Fig cake (fruit) * List of cookies * List of pastries * Makroudh * Cuccidati
==Footnotes and references== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.nicecupofteaandasitdown.com/biscuits/fig/ 21st Century Fig Festival - a comparison of fig rolls] * [https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2016/may/05/how-to-make-the-perfect-fig-rolls Felicity Cloake: How to make the perfect fig rolls]
{{pastries}} {{Jewish baked goods}} {{African cuisine}} {{Cuisine of Israel}} {{Cuisine of Lebanon}} {{Cuisine of Turkey}} {{Cuisine of Cyprus}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fig Roll}} Category:Arab pastries Category:British cuisine Category:Egyptian desserts Category:Turkish cuisine Category:Cypriot cuisine Category:Syrian cuisine Category:Lebanese cuisine Category:Israeli pastries Category:Cuisine of Northern Cyprus Category:Pastries Category:Snack foods Category:Fig dishes