Pepperoni Roll Stromboli Snack

Fairmont, West Virginia has a nickname as Pepperoni Roll Capital of the World. The name got its relevance from the name of a snack popularly known as the pepperoni roll. In some parts of the U.S. it is a name given to a stromboli made with pepperoni.

The pepperoni roll is a favorite snack in West Virginia and places near the Appalachian Mountains. It is the most commonly found snack food in West Virginia convenience stores. It is not so common in other parts and is closely associated to Fairmont alone.

Legends approve that the pepperoni roll was invented in the 1920s. The inventor was named Giuseppe Argiro and was the owner of the Country Club Bakery in Fairmont. The theory goes about the origin of the snack that it was first invented to satisfy the taste buds of the coal miners of north-central West Virginia. The date goes back to the first half of the twentieth century. The pepperoni roll bears close resemblance to the pasty and sausage roll. Similar to pepperoni roll the first sausage roll was invented among miners in Great Britain. Pepperoni and other Italian foods became popular as fast foods in north-central West Virginia in the early 20th century. This was a time when immigrants from Italy flocked in hoards to join the booming mines and railroad workforce.

Both homemade pepperoni rolls and readymade rolls in retail shops are available everywhere in West Virginia. A small, family-owned Italian-American bakery makes the most commercially available pepperoni rolls. Even churches and schools in the state organize pepperoni roll sale to raise funds. The classic pepperoni roll is made of soft white yeast bread roll. Pepperoni in the stick form or in slices is inserted in the middle and then the bread roll is baked.

While baking, spicy oil from the pepperoni fills in the bread. The pepperoni roll becomes a little moist and most people like it that way. To maintain quality the feel of the bread is an important factor. Pepperoni rolls are taken cold, or can be slightly oven-warmed. Some of the variety contains cheese or chilly peppers. In 1987 the United States Department of Agriculture proposed a category for the pepperoni making bakeries as meat packing plants. The bakery owners contested this saying that the new regulations would hike the cost of production and will force them to shut down. The USDA's proposal was over ruled after Jay Rockefeller the Senator, intervened. Pepperoni Roll