Fig Roll - History

History

Figs are a popular snack food in most of the world. Originating in northern Asia Minor, traded by the sailors and explorers of developing countries, they became popular in the Southern and hence hotter parts of the Mediterranean.

As baking developed, the ability to increase the duration and storage of foods stuffs allowed longer distances to be travelled. It was thus probably the early Egyptians who invented the fig roll, it simply being preserved figs in a flour-based pastry covering, which is hand rolled.

Figs were highly traded and fought over during the development of the great trade routes during the 15th to 17th centuries. Christopher Columbus devoted a complete page to what a wonderful time it would be when he would be able to gorge himself on figs in the orient, while Marco Polo described women in association with the beauty of Figs. It was also during this period that Figs reached North America, when the Spanish reached the island of Hispanola in 1520.