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History of Gingerbread
Gingerbread has been baked in Europe since the eleventh century. In some places,
it was a soft, delicately spiced cake; in others, a crisp, flat cookie, and in
others, warm, thick, dark squares of "bread," sometimes served with a pitcher of
lemon sauce or whipped cream. It was sometimes light, sometimes dark, sometimes
sweet, sometimes spicy, but it was almost always cut into shapes such as men,
women, stars or animals, and colorfully decorated or stamped with a mold and
dusted with white sugar.
In Medieval England gingerbread meant simply
"preserved ginger" and was an adaptation of the Old French gingebras, derived
from the Latin name of the spice, Zingebar. It was only in the fifteenth century
that the term came to be applied to a kind of cake made with treacle, an
uncrystalized syrup drained from raw sugar during the refining process, and
flavored with ginger. Ginger was also discovered to have a preservative effect
when added to pastries and bread, and this probably led to the development of
recipes for ginger cakes, cookies, and flavored breads.
From its very
beginning gingerbread has been a fairground delicacy. Many fairs became known as
"gingerbread fairs" and gingerbread items took on the alternative name in
England of "fairings" which had the generic meaning of a gift given at, or
brought from, a fair. Certain shapes were associated with different seasons:
buttons and flowers were found at Easter fairs, and animals and birds were a
feature in autumn. There is also more than one village tradition in England
requiring unmarried women to eat gingerbread "husbands" at the fair if they are
to stand a good chance of meeting a real husband.
Of all the countries
in Europe, Germany is the one with the longest tradition of flat, shaped
gingerbreads. At every autumn fair in Germany, and in the surrounding lands
where the Germanic influence is strong, there are rows of stalls filled with
hundreds of gingerbread hearts, decorated with white and colored icing and tied
with ribbons.
During the nineteenth century, gingerbread was modernized.
When the Grimm brothers collected volumes of German fairy tales they found one
about Hansel and Gretel, two children who, abandoned in the woods by penniless
parents, discovered a house made of bread, cake and candies.
At
Christmas, gingerbread makes its most impressive appearance. The German practice
of making lebkuchen houses never caught on in Britain in the same way as it did
in North America, and it is here still that the most extraordinary creations are
found.
Gingerbread making in North America has its origins in the
traditions of the many settlers from all parts of Northern Europe who brought
with them family recipes and customs. By the nineteenth century, America had
been baking gingerbread for decades.
American recipes usually called for
fewer spices than their European counterparts, but often make use of ingredients
that were only available regionally. Maple syrup gingerbreads were made in New
England, and in the South sorghum molasses was used. Regional variations began
occurring as more people arrived from Europe. In Pennsylvania, the influence of
German cooking was great and many traditional Germany gingerbreads reappeared in
this area, especially at Christmas time.
Nowhere in the world is there a
greater collection of gingerbread recipes than in America —there are so many
variations in taste, form and presentation. With the vast choice of ingredients,
baking aids and decorative items the imaginative cook can create the most
spectacular gingerbread houses and centerpieces ever.
http://www.brachs.wilton.com/history.asp
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