Gingerbread

For other uses, see Gingerbread (disambiguation).

Gingerbread in cake form

Gingerbread is a term used to describe a variety of sweet food products, which can range from a soft, moist loaf cake to something close to a ginger biscuit. What they have in common are the predominant flavors of ginger and a tendency to use honey or molasses (treacle) rather than just sugar. They probably also share a common history.

Etymology

Originally, the term gingerbread (from Latin zingiber via Old French gingebras) referred to preserved ginger. It then referred to a confection made with honey and spices. Gingerbread is often used to translate the French term pain d'épices (literally "spice bread") or the German term Lebkuchen (the literal meaning of which is unclear).

History

Traditional Toruń gingerbread

A Lebkuchen house

Gingerbread was brought to Europe in 992 by the Armenian monk Gregory of Nicopolis (Gregory Makar) (Grégoire de Nicopolis). He left Nicopolis Pompeii, to live in Bondaroy (France), near the town of Pithiviers. He stayed there 7 years, and taught the Gingerbread cooking to French priests and Christians. He died in 999.

During the 13th century, it was brought to Sweden by German immigrants. Early references from the Vadstena Abbey show how the Swedish nuns were baking gingerbread to ease indigestion in the year 1444. It was the custom to bake white biscuits and paint them as window decorations. The first documented trade of gingerbread biscuits dates to the 16th century, where they were sold in monasteries, pharmacies and town square farmers' markets. One hundred years later the town of Market Drayton in Shropshire, UK became known for its gingerbread, as is proudly decreed on their town's welcome sign. The first recorded mention of gingerbread being baked in the town dates back to 1793; however, it was probably made earlier, as ginger was stocked in high street businesses from the 1640s. Gingerbread became widely available in the 18th century.

Varieties

A gingerbread house

Akin to the original middle eastern recipes, English gingerbread is a dense, treacly (molasses-based) spice cake or bread. Some recipes add mustard, pepper, raisins, nuts, apple, and/or other spices/ingredients to the batter. The usual way of making it is to melt the fat and then mix all the ingredients in a bowl (called "the gingerbread method") rather than using rubbing in or creaming to get the fat absorbed into the flour, and this makes it a particularly easy kind of cake to make. It is usually baked in a loaf or square shape, rather than in the round form common for fruit cakes or sponges. It is traditionally eaten on Bonfire Night. As a dessert, the bread usually omits raisins or nuts and is often served with warm lemon sauce. In the United States, this form of gingerbread is sometimes called "gingerbread cake" or "ginger cake" to distinguish it from the harder forms; as in England it is typically served in winter, but it is particularly associated with Christmas. French pain d'épices is somewhat similar, though generally slightly drier, and always involves honey rather than treacle (and originally its recipe did not involve ginger).

Parkin is a form of hard gingerbread made with oatmeal and treacle which is popular in the North of England.

In Germany gingerbread is made in two forms: a soft form called Lebkuchen and a harder form, particularly associated with carnivals and street markets such as the Christmas markets that occur in many German towns. The hard gingerbread is made in decorative shapes, which are then further decorated with sweets and icing. The tradition of cutting gingerbread into shapes takes many other forms, and exists in many countries, a well known example being the gingerbread man. Traditionally, these were dunked in port wine.

In parts of Scandinavia, the most popular form of ginger confection are the pepperkaker/peparkakor (Norwegian), pepparkakor (Swedish) or brunkager (Danish). They are thin, very brittle biscuits that are particularly associated with the extended Christmas period. In Norway and Sweden, pepperkaker/pepparkakor are also used as window decorations, the pepperkaker/pepparkakor are then a little thicker than usual and decorated with glaze and candy. Many families bake pepperkaker/pepparkakor/brunkager as a tradition with their kids. In English, pepperkaker/pepparkakor/brunkager would be referred to as ginger biscuits rather than gingerbread.

In the Netherlands and Belgium, a soft and crumbly gingerbread called Peperkoek or Ontbijtkoek is popularly served at breakfast time or during the day, thickly sliced and often with butter on top.

Gingerbreads are known in Russia. The most famous gingerbreads there are baked in the ancient cities Tula (Tula gingerbread), Vyazma, and Gorodets.

In Poland, gingerbreads are known as Pierniki. The most famous one is called Toruń gingerbread (Toruński Piernik), a traditional Polish gingerbread that has been produced since the Middle Ages in the city of Toruń (Thorn).

In Croatia, gingerbread known as licitar is traditionally made in the shape of a heart and is used as an ornamental gift.

Gingerbread houses and decorations

A gingerbread house with candy decorations.

The harder German-style Gingerbread is often used to build gingerbread houses similar to the "witch's house" encountered by Hansel and Gretel. These houses, covered with a variety of candies and icing, are popular Christmas decorations, often built by children with the help of their parents.

Since 1991, the people of Bergen, Norway, have built a city of gingerbread houses each year before Christmas. Named Pepperkakebyen (Norwegian for "gingerbread city"), it is claimed to be the world's largest such city. It's free for every child under the age of 12 to make their own house with the help of their parents. In 2009, the people of Bergen were shocked when the gingerbread city was destroyed in an act of vandalism.

Another type of model-making with gingerbread uses a boiled dough that can be molded like clay to form inedible statuettes or other decorations. Medieval bakers used carved boards to create elaborate designs.

A significant form of popular art in Europe, major centers of gingerbread mold carvings included Lyon, Nürnberg, Pest, Prague, Pardubice, Pulsnitz, Ulm, and Toruń. Gingerbread molds often displayed the "news", showing carved portraits of new kings, emperors, and queens, for example. Substantial mold collections are held at the Ethnographic Museum in Toruń, Poland and the Bread Museum in Ulm, Germany.

See also

• Ginger snaps
• Gingerbread man
• Lebkuchen - German Gingerbread
• Licitar

External links

• Gingerbread at the Open Directory Project
• Gingerbread house recipe and building techniques