The story of gingerbreadHistory and backgroundThere is a lot of confusion about the absolute origin of "Gingerbread", as it seems to have been first used in Medieval England, a period not noted for comprehensive records. It seems that at that time the word "gingerbread" referred to "preserved ginger". This may be an adaptation of the Old French "gingebras", in turn derived from the Latin "Zingebar", the name of the spice as we saw on the page devoted to Ginger, the spice.In another version of the history, a recipe for gingerbread was brought back by the Crusaders (1096 - 1291AD). This was a mix of breadcrumbs, honey and ginger with other spices. Later on the word was used for a kind of cake made with treacle (as you can see elsewhere on this site is a syrup obtained from raw sugar during the refining process) which had been flavored with ginger. Ginger was also discovered to have a preservative effect when added to pastries and bread, and this would have led to the development of recipes for ginger cakes, cookies, and flavored breads. We know that gingerbread was well known in the medieval period as many fairs became known as "gingerbread fairs". This became so well developed and steeped in tradition that different shapes evolved for the different seasons. For example, buttons and flowers for the Easter fairs, and animals and birds for the Autumn. The origin of gingerbread men may be tied in with a custom in some English villages where unmarried women were supposed to eat gingerbread "husbands" at the fair to help make certain they would stand a good chance of meeting a real husband. Gingerbread also become very popular in continental Europe, especially Germany, so it is not surprising that the practice was exported to the USA. Gingerbread housesThe building of these houses from supposedly edible materials originates from a fairy tale publicized by the brothers Grimm. They did not write the tale, but collected it amongst many others when searching Germany for traditional spoken tales.In the tale Hansel and Gretel were abandoned in the woods by their poor parents who could not afford to feed them. in their wanderings they came across a house made of gingerbread and candies. This tale touched a nerve in the USA, far more than it did in Europe, the origin of the story, and there is quite a tradition of gingerbread house construction. Later developmentsThe European recipes imported into the USA were adapted to suit local ingredients. Generally the breads and cookies are not as highly spiced as the originals, and use molasses as the main sweetening ingredient as it is readily available from the production of cane sugar.
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