We Know Figs Are Healthy, but What About Fig Newtons? | Livestrong.com (2024)

FAQs

We Know Figs Are Healthy, but What About Fig Newtons? | Livestrong.com? ›

Fig Newtons can contain a lot of sugar. There are more 700 types of figs, and they've been popular since the 19th century. Love of this healthy, sweet fruit has led to the production of many different chutneys, jams and other dessert products.

The label lists flour, figs, sugar, corn syrup, vegetable oil, salt, corn fiber, oat fiber, baking soda, calcium lactate, malic acid, soy lecithin, sodium Benzoate, and sulfur dioxide. There is no dairy in there or any animal based products, so, yes, Fig Newtons are vegan. However, Fig Newtons are not gluten-free.

The dehydration process of drying this fruit results in a higher concentration of sugar relative to weight, so dried figs have a higher concentration of carbohydrates—mostly in the form of sugar—than fresh figs.

The product was named after the city of Newton, Massachusetts. The Kennedy Biscuit Company had recently become associated with the New York Biscuit Company, and the two merged to form Nabisco—after which, the fig rolls were trademarked as "Fig Newtons".

The first thing to note is that fresh figs taste nothing like Fig Newtons. A fresh fig does not have the extreme sweetness, the chewiness, or the noticeable seeds of a dried fig.

Fig Newton Cookies

They are also fairly healthy. Figs are well known for having fiber, which helps with digestion, as well as protein and several vitamins and minerals. This means there are quite a few health benefits of fig bars like fig Newtons.

“There's no fig wasp in there by the time people are eating the fruit,” says Ferguson. The female fig produces an enzyme that completely digests the exoskeleton before hungry humans can take a bite. To be clear: “The crunchy bits are seeds, not wasp parts,” she adds.

Here you would learn that fig paste is allowed to have up to 13 insect heads per 100 grams.

Modern Changes to the Fig Newton

In 2012, they once again dropped the "Fig" from the name because, as the Kraft specialist Gary Osifchin told The New York Times, they wanted to change the core of the brand to fruit. "It was going to be hard for us to advance the Newtons brand with the baggage of the fig."

What fruit is most similar to fig? ›

Figs and dates are both sweet fruits with similar nutrition profiles, but figs are higher in calcium and dates are lower in fat and sweeter. They also have different textures — figs are crunchy and dates are sticky. Figs and dates may seem quite similar, as they're both easy to snack on and often eaten dried.

Fresh figs are usually eaten raw. They taste best eaten straight off the tree, ideally still warm from the sun. The entire fig is edible, from the thin skin to the red or purplish flesh and the myriad tiny seeds, but they can be peeled if you wish. Always cut off the stem.

Yes, fig newtons have a “fig paste” in the center which is made from processing figs with other ingredients like a sweetener.

Sugar: The sugar used in Fig Newtons comes from various suppliers, some of whom employ a filtration process involving bone char. Bone char is a byproduct of charred animal bones, making it decidedly non-vegan.

How to Make Fig Newtons. These cookies are easy to make, requiring just 8 ingredients! Plus, they're naturally sweetened and no-bake (with the exception of toasting your oats and nuts before blending). The filling is a simple blend of dried figs, cinnamon, dates, and orange zest.

There's something magic about prunes, walnuts, and cinnamon wrapped up in this orange scented dough. New flavours form a new favourite classic cookie.