History of the Gingerbread

1057 Words3 Pages

Gingerbread houses are very creative and decorative. Although they may be creative and decorative they have been around longer than one person would think. Ginger bread houses have been around since medieval times. From what sources tell us gingerbread houses have been through 3 major phases. It began in medieval times. Gingerbread houses was then modernized around the 19th century. Finally, its modern usage from the 20th century on to today. (Ultimate Gingerbread, 2013) Also how we shape Gingerbread today and what kind of tools we use to build a gingerbread house and how they are put in competition.
Gingerbread houses began in Europe in medieval times. In that time period people used gingerbread houses for many things. Ginger root was discovered in East Europe by Marco Polo who found ginger grown on the Caribbean islands (Trowbridge, n.d.). It ginger can also be found in Africa, the West Indies, China, Japan, India, and southern Florida.( Where does ginger grow, n.d.) In the 11th century ginger was discovered and used as pastries, bread, ginger cakes, and cookies. Gingerbread has spread throughout Western Europe during that time period (Gingerbread house, n.d.). Also the Crusaders were returning from wars in the Eastern Mediterranean which made gingerbread a delicacy. They shaped gingerbread as a talisman so soldiers could wear it for battle and was also used as protection against evil spirits. In the 13th century gingerbread was shaped in different forms by monks from Franconia, Germany. Also in the 13th century Swedish nuns baked gingerbread to ease their indigestion in the year of 1444. In the 17th century for weddings people used gingerbread for gifts or it was used them as a love token. During that time gingerbread was k...

... middle of paper ...

...k/gingerbread/gingerbread_history.htm
History of Gingerbread.(n.d) Retrieved from http://www.santacla.us/gingerbread/
Japlon, V. (2012). Tracing the origins of the gingerbread house. Wilton Blog: Ideas from
Wilton. Retrieved from http://www.wilton.com/blog/index.php/tracing-the- origins-of-the-gingerbread-house/ Rotkovitz. M.(n.d). Traitional Christmas Specialty Foods. Retrieved from http//gourmetfood.about.com. Rolek. B.(n.d.). The History of Gingerbread who started eating Gingerbread first.
Retreived from http://easterneuropeanfood.about.com
Ultimate Gingerbread.(2013). Retrieved from http://www.gingerbread.ultimategingerbread.com History of the the Gingerbread Man (n.d). Retrieved from http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/gingerbread/history.html

Sweet Competition (2014) Retrieved from http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/sweet-competition-94568.html

More about History of the Gingerbread

Open Document