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Gingerbread
 | Gingerbread has been a tradition at Christmas for a long time. It may be lots of trouble to make gingerbread men or a gingerbread house, but it's also lots of fun - and it makes your house smell so good. Hang the cookies on your Christmas tree, use a house for a centerpiece, put it in potpourri - or just eat up and enjoy! |
Ginger is a spice that mainly grows in Jamaica, India, Africa and China. The name comes from a Sanskrit word meaning "horn root," and refers to its knobby appearance. Using ginger is as old as recorded history since it was believed to help digestion and keep people from catching colds.
In the eleventh century, soldiers returning home from the Crusades brought ginger back to countries all over Europe. The English quickly turned this into a therapeutic ginger candy. Two hundered years later, bread crumbs were added to the mixture and gingerbread was born.
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Building structures out of gingerbread came into fashion in the 1700's. Nuremberg, Germany became known as the "gingerbread capital" of the world when sculptors, painters, woodcarvers and goldsmiths helped make the most beautiful gingerbread houses in Europe.
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During the 1800's, the gingerbread houses we know today were brought to us by the Grimm brothers. When they put together their collection of German fairy tales, they found the story of Hansel and Gretel - two children who discovered a house made of bread, cake and candy. It became even more popular to make gingerbread houses for children to eat.
Gingerbread Legends
William Shakespear said he would spend his last penny on gingerbread.
If unmarried women eat gingerbread men "husbands", they are likely to meet a real husband.
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