We have already followed the etymology, history and the route of ginger to Europe. Today we will bite on the confection, which symbolises the Christmas holidays like no other, the gingerbread.
According to historians, gingerbread can be traced down to the ancient Greeks and Egyptians, who prepared it for religious ceremonies. As we have already learned, ginger disappeared from Europe with the fall of the Roman Empire; to be mass reintroduced only during the 14th century. But before Marco Polo’s travels, the 11th-century crusaders brought the spice back from the Middle East to make it available to only some noblemen, as one of the first written references confirms. Geoffrey Chaucer, Sir Thopas, 1386: “They set him royal spices and Gingerbread”. At that times, the term gingerbread referred to simply preserved ginger.
As ginger and other spices became available and affordable to the masses, gingerbread appeared on the scene and the term became associated with ginger-flavoured cakes sometime in the 15th century. With one of the earliest European recipes calling for ground almonds, stale breadcrumbs, rosewater, sugar and, naturally, ginger. The hard cookies were a staple at many Medieval fairs in England, France, Holland and Germany.
But it is Queen Elizabeth I, credited with the idea of having the cookies in different shapes, after she had some made to resemble the dignitaries visiting her court. In the following decades, the shapes of the gingerbread changed with season in the fashion of the seasonable flowers and attributes and the gold leaf that was often part of the ginger cookies’ decoration led to the popular expression:”to take the gilt off of gingerbread”.
In a dictionary from the 1570s, gingerbread is defined as: “A kind of cake or paste made to comfort the stomach”.
By the end of the 16th century, the gingerbread gained such popularity to merit a mention in Shakespeare’s play Lovers Labours Lost: “An I had but one penny in the world, thou shouldst have it to buy ginger-bread…”
At the same time, the first gingerbread houses appeared in Germany along with the Brothers Grimm fairy tale Hansel and Gretel and the house made entirely of treats.
In the following years, the ginger cookie (Lebkuchen) houses, decorated with foil in addition to gold leaf, became associated with Christmas tradition.
The European settlers brought the gingerbread to North America where recipes usually called for softer dough and fewer spices, but also adding the rich flavour of the maple syrup.
It is at Christmas, that gingerbread makes its most impressive appearance to help us chew on our list of New Year’s resolutions.
