Stella Wenstob | Story & pictures
Start a Holiday
Gingerbread Tradition 1
Warm smells of cinnamon, ginger, cardamon, and all-spice waft from the cozy home, encrusted with candy and icicles made of sugar. A flat gingerbread man stands stiffly outside sporting gumdrop buttons and an icing smile. The holiday season is filled with special flavors. Gingerbread houses and their catastrophic collapse are some of our most hallowed memories as children. We could not wait to demolish our architectural masterpieces after Christmas and break our teeth on the now stale candy. Hmmm…looking back, maybe it was more about the candy than the actual gingerbread?
Gingerbread Origins Forms of gingerbread have been associated with holiday making in the Eastern and Western world from at least 999 AD. Popular at fairs and served to royalty, gingerbread and its relatives were associated with wealth and the commemoration of special occasions. Queen Elizabeth I served baked figurines to visiting personages. Dating even earlier, cakes made of ginger and honey have been found in the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs. It is unclear whether the German tradition of candy-covered gingerbread houses were inspired by or inspired the Brother’s Grimm fairy-tale of Hansel and Gretel – either way the two are forever linked.
The earliest written record of the plant is from Confucius, who purportedly ate it with every meal. It was one of the first spices to be transported out of Asia with the spice trade and was quickly adopted by the Greeks and Romans. Consequently, its use and association with breads and cookies are diverse and expansive. From loaflike cakes, breads, hard-brittle biscuits, and cookies cut or moulded into intricate shapes, nearly every Western (and Eastern) country has a specific ginger treat associated with holiday making.
Perfect Gingerbread The perfect recipe for a structurally sound gingerbread house is equally various. Do you use molasses, honey, treacle, or golden syrup? Brown sugar or white? Which spices do you use? What leavening agent? Eggs or no eggs? I haven’t even considered the icing! Yesterday, I tried my great-grandmother’s recipe. Passed down to my grandmother from her mother-in-law and written in her perfect grammar school cursive on classic note cards taken from her carefully curated recipe box, this is a dipping biscuit recipe (known in America as a “cookie”).
According to archaeologists and geneticists, ginger was first domesticated in Maritime Southeast Asia (today’s China), likely With a bit of rolling, it can easily be used by the Austronesian peoples, who later for gingerbread men and even a house ( brought it with them (as a “canoe-plant”) (if you are brave enough). in their expansion into the Indo-Pacific and 21 as far as Hawaii.
2nd Annual
CHRISTMASTOWN Gingerbread Challenge ENTRIES
DUE:
December 7 - 11 S H E LT O N , W A $500+ IN PRIZES
Bring gingerbread creations to the Shelton Mason County Chamber at 215 W Railroad Avenue, 8 AM-5PM. Gingerbread entries will be on display in shop windows in downtown Shelton. The entry’s major components (such as sides, roofs, etc.) must be constructed of gingerbread. The rest of the display can be decorated with any edible material. All visible components must be edible. Entries will be judged based on the following criteria: Overall Appearance, Originality and Creativity, Difficulty and Precision, Use of Materials. Visit ChristmastownWA.org for full details & entry form. SPONSORED BY
WINDERMERE REAL ESTATE AND
BOWERS DENTAL GROUP THANK YOU.
FJORD
