The Garibaldi biscuit is named after which Italian general?

The Garibaldi biscuit is named after Giuseppe Garibaldi, the Italian general and revolutionary.

Garibaldi was a leading figure in the movement to unify Italy, a process completed in 1861. He became an international celebrity, and his popular visit to South Shields in England in 1854 helped strengthen his connection with British popular culture. The biscuit later adopted his name as a patriotic and commercial reference.

The biscuit consists of squashed currants sandwiched between two thin layers of biscuit dough and baked. It is rectangular and is traditionally eaten with tea or coffee. Its fruit layer has also given it the unglamorous British nickname “dead fly biscuit.”

The biscuit is sometimes confused with similar fruit-filled products sold under different names. In Australia, a comparable version has been called Full O’Fruit, while New Zealand has marketed one as Fruitli. Giuseppe Mazzini and Camillo Cavour were also important figures in Italian unification, but neither is the namesake of this biscuit.