Gingerbread Is What Christmas Is All About
The quintessential flavor of Christmas has evolved over the centuries, according to what spices became available, but it’s still recognizable in all its forms and shapes: cookies, houses or lattes.
Gingerbread’s origins trace back to around 1500 BC in ancient Egypt, where honeycakes were discovered in pharaonic tombs alongside written references to small pieces of spiced honeybread. In Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Germanic mythologies, honey was revered as a divine gift, believed to possess the power to ward off evil, heal and give life.
Modern gingerbread was first found in the Belgian city of Dinant, then adopted and modified by the people of Aachen, Germany. It was later altered even further in the Franconian convents. The nuns baked the cookies for dessert. Peppercakes, as gingerbread is still referred to in some parts of Germany, got its first mention in 1296 in the city of Ulm. At the time, all spices foreign to the region were denoted as pepper.
Because spices necessary in the manufacture of gingerbread were not regional, often expensive and hard to find, bakeries were established where trade routes crossed. Ulm, Cologne, Aachen, Basel and Munich are mentioned time and again in historical documentation. The gingerbread common to St. Wolfgang was first made in the 14th century and was a snack the pilgrims of those days enjoyed on their difficult journeys.
Each gingerbread baker had his own personal recipes. These are still well-kept secrets today, only passed onto family members. Over the centuries, baking procedures have been adapted along with the recipes. In order to preserve the distinctive taste, premium quality and integrity of the product, strict standards have been put into place which define the process of gingerbread making.
Today, we can not imagine a Christmas without gingerbread. Regardless of the many variations and regional distinctions, gingerbread remains the quintessential Christmas flavor in Europe.
Gingerbread Across Europe
With the same heart made of honey, ginger and warm spices, Europeans found their own particular brand of gingerbread, from the peppery hard biscuits of Northern Europe to the beet-colored soft cakes of Ukraine.
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 Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine, the honey cake eaten at Rosh Hashanah (New Year) closely resembles the Dutch peperkoek or the German Lebkuchen, though it has wide regional variations. In Switzerland, a gingerbread confection known as “biber” is typically a two-centimeter thick rectangular gingerbread cake with a marzipan filling. The cantons of Appenzell and St. Gallen are famous for biber, which are artfully adorned with images of the Appenzell bear or the St. Gallen cathedral respectively by engraving or icing.
In the Netherlands and Belgium, a soft and crumbly gingerbread called peperkoek, kruidkoek or ontbijtkoek is popularly served at breakfast time or during the day, thickly sliced and often topped with butter.
In the Nordic and Baltic countries, the most popular form of ginger confection is the pepperkaker (Norwegian), pepparkakor (Swedish), peberkager (Danish), piparkökur (Icelandic), piparkakut (Finnish), piparkūkas (Latvian) or piparkoogid (Estonian). They are thin, 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 a little thicker than usual and are decorated with glaze and candy). Many families bake pepperkaker/pepparkakor/brunkager as a tradition.
In Russia, a gingerbread maker was first mentioned in Kazan cadastres in 1568. Gingerbread confections are called pryaniki (sg. pryanik), derived from the Russian term for ‘spices’. A classic Russian gingerbread is made with rye flour, honey, sugar, butter, eggs and various spices; it has an embossed ornament or text on the front side with royal icing. A Russian gingerbread can also be shaped in various forms and stuffed with varenje and other sweet fillings.
In Poland, gingerbreads are known as pierniki (singular: piernik). Some cities have traditional regional styles. Toruń gingerbread (piernik toruński) is a traditional Polish gingerbread that has been produced since the Middle Ages in the city of Toruń. It was a favorite delicacy of Chopin when he visited his godfather, Fryderyk Florian Skarbek, in Toruń during school vacation. Kraków gingerbread is the traditional style of the former Polish capital.
In the Czech Republic, gingerbread is called perník and it is a popular Christmas biscuit and a decoration. In Romania, gingerbread is called turtă dulce and usually has sugar glazing.