Newtons are a

Nabisco Nabisco (, abbreviated from the earlier name National Biscuit Company) is an American manufacturer of cookies and snacks headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey. The company is a subsidiary of Illinois-based Mondelēz International. Nabisco's ...

-trademarked version of a pastry filled with sweet fruit paste. "Fig Newtons" are the most popular variety (

fig roll The fig roll or fig bar is a cookie or biscuit consisting of a rolled cake or pastry filled with fig paste. History Figs are a popular snack food in most of the world. Originating in northern Asia Minor, traded by the sailors and explorers of t ...

s filled with

fig The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of small tree in the flowering plant family Moraceae. Native to the Mediterranean and western Asia, it has been cultivated since ancient times and is now widely grown throughout the world ...

paste). They are produced by an

extrusion Extrusion is a process used to create objects of a fixed cross-sectional profile by pushing material through a die of the desired cross-section. Its two main advantages over other manufacturing processes are its ability to create very complex c ...

process. Their distinctive shape is a characteristic that has been adopted by competitors, including generic fig bars sold in many markets. The product was invented by

Charles Roser Charles Martin Roser (November 16, 1864 – April 12, 1937), also known as C. M. Roser, was an Ohio food maker, Florida real estate developer and philanthropist. He was born in Elyria, Ohio and died in St. Petersburg, Florida. Early career in Oh ...

and baked at the

F. A. Kennedy Steam Bakery The F. A. Kennedy Steam Bakery is a historic bakery at 129 Franklin Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts that first produced the Fig Newton in 1891. History The building was constructed in 1875. The well-known baked good that originated at the ...

for the first time in 1891.

History

Until the late 19th century, many physicians believed that most illnesses were related to digestion problems, and recommended a daily intake of biscuits and fruit. Fig rolls were the ideal solution to this advice. They were a locally produced and handmade product, brought to the U.S. by British immigrants. That was until a

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

baker and fig lover,

, invented a process in 1891 which inserted fig paste into a thick pastry dough.

Cambridgeport, Massachusetts Cambridgeport is one of the neighborhoods of Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is bounded by Massachusetts Avenue, the Charles River, the Grand Junction Railroad, and River Street. The neighborhood contains predominantly residential homes, many of the ...

–based Kennedy Biscuit Company purchased the Roser recipe and started mass production. The first Fig Newtons were baked at the

in 1891. The product was named after the city of

Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of Ne ...

. The Kennedy Biscuit Company had recently become associated with the New York Biscuit Company, and the two merged to form

—after which, the fig rolls were trademarked as "Fig Newtons". Since 2012, the "Fig" has been dropped from the product name (now just "Newtons").

Varieties

Original Fig Newtons were the only variety available until the 1980s and as of 2012,

makes several varieties of the Newton, which, in addition to the original fig filling, include versions filled with apple cinnamon, strawberry, raspberry, cherry, blueberry and mixed berry. The Fig Newton also is sold in a 100% whole-grain variety and a fat-free variety. Fig Newton Minis have also been introduced. The fig bar is the company's third best-selling product, with sales of more than 700 million bars a year as of 2018.www.heraldmailmedia.com
Have a rootin' tootin' celebration of Fig Newton Day, January 10, 2018, Lisa McCoy , Herald Mail Media In 2011, a crisp cookie was introduced in the United States named Newtons Fruit Thins, after being successfully marketed by Kraft in Canada as Lifestyle Selections, a variety of

Peek Freans Peek Freans is the name of a former biscuit making company based in Bermondsey, London, which is now a global brand of biscuits and related confectionery owned by various food businesses. Owned but not marketed in the UK, Europe and USA by De Be ...

. The product line has since been discontinued.

References

External links

*
Newtons' Page
on Kraft.com
Fig Newton Jingle
at NabiscoWorld.com {{Mondelez Fig dishes Mondelez International brands Nabisco brands Products introduced in 1891 fr:Figolu