Sugar and Spice

PHOTO BY HEATHER KRANTZ

Text and Photos by Jo Clark

LLegend claims that the first gingerbread houses were designed in honor of Grimm’s fairy tale “Hansel and Gretel.” In that tale, two abandoned children found an edible house in the forest made of bread and decorated with sugar. Here’s a joke: “What's the best thing to put into a gingerbread house?” Answer: “Your teeth!”

A World of Gingerbread

Nowadays, gingerbread houses are quintessentially Christmas, and displays are found around the globe. You can see edible landmarks, cathedrals with stained glass, movie characters and everything in between. There has been an annual White House gingerbread display for longer than anyone remembers. The Ritz-Carlton in Tucson builds a dine-in gingerbread house. And a mall in Xi, China, constructs a 700-foot tall, 20,000-cookie house for shoppers to explore. People everywhere are obsessed with gingerbread creations. Don’t believe it? Check the Instagram hashtag #gingerbreadhouse—1.35 MILLION posts!

Local Creations

However, you can find drool-worthy displays much closer to home. Floyd is home to an annual contest at the Floyd Country Store for more than five consecutive years. I hung around the kitchen and took pictures as they designed a gingerbread replica of the country store, using an old post card as the blueprint.

PHOTO BY JO CLARK

I have a new appreciation of the skill level involved. Oh sure, I’ve seen it done on television. But they make it look easy. Take a big sheet of gingerbread, cut it to shape, use icing to construct the house, and then decorate with more icing and gumdrop candies. Piece of cake, er, gingerbread—right? Wrong! The process took DAYS! It took several bakers, who were required to be talented decorators, architects, builders and crafters. And that was just one building that had to fit on a 24” x 24” board.

When the contest entries began to arrive, the store filled with intricate gingerbread buildings. There was Mabry’s Mill; a log cabin with a “rock” fireplace and chimney (and a fire in the fireplace!); a church with stained glass windows, lit from the inside; really!? Who can think of that? Not to mention making it! And in this contest, everything but the lights must be edible, which includes the supporting structure material. The more I examined the creations, the more I said: “Wow. Just, wow.” Now don’t get me wrong. I can bake with the best of the home bakers. And I’m crafty—I have even taught craft and painting classes. But gingerbread construction takes both these talents and several others to a whole ’nother level! Carve out time in your holiday schedule to go and take a look at the competitors’ entries, and you’ll see what I mean. Plus, you can cast your vote for this year’s winners.

Building a Century-Old Store

Owner Heather Krantz said the Floyd Country Store’s entry was “just for display. It wouldn’t be right to compete against the business entries.” All that work for adulation…sound familiar?

The variety of tools in use might surprise you. A pizza wheel makes a handy circular saw, while a bench scraper was used for creating shiplap siding. A cookie cutter created scalloped edging—perfect for replicating the striped awning out front. All of the building parts were edible, too. Overlapping Necco wafers were used for roofing; Rainbow Sour Belts were cut into small bits for the awning; spun sugar mimicked sheets of glass and glue; wreaths made and trimmed with

icing were used to decorate the outside of the store. Once you see a few unusual things repurposed, your mind fairly dances with ideas—like pretzels for fire logs and black jelly beans for pavers.

The Floyd Country Store is well known for its Friday Night Jamboree and live radio shows. Gingerbread musicians and their instruments, seen jamming around the store’s entry, were created with cookie cutters and drawn free-hand.

Bake Your Way to Fame

The contest is divided into three categories: Youth, Adult and Business. The registration deadline for this year’s competition is November 26. Local sponsors provide prizes and gift certificates for the winners. Entries will be displayed in the windows of the Floyd Country Store and the Soda Shop from December 9 through Christmas Eve. Community voting will end on December 20, and winners will be announced on December 21. To get the scoop on this year’s contest, including rules, guidelines and helpful hints, go to: https://www. floydcountrystore.com/event/floyd-gingerbread-housecontest-2021.

Jo Clark spent several days observing construction techniques of the gingerbread Floyd Country Store. No gingerbread was consumed, however the same cannot be said for the store’s snickerdoodles! Jo hasn’t confessed, but there are still cookie crumbs on her chin!

Is There a House in Your Future?

If you are ready to break ground on your house of gingerbread but don’t have a general contractor on speed dial, stop by Nest Realty at 118 Country Club Drive in Blacksburg for your building materials. The kits contain everything you need to start construction on a 6” x 6” floorplan, with the roof to bring the height to about 10”. It gives new meaning to “tiny house,” doesn’t it? All kidding aside, Nest Realty and Kent Jewelers have sponsored a Gingerbread House contest for more than a decade. The contest donates 100 percent of proceeds to Valley Interfaith Child Care Center (VICC) and Micah’s Backpack, charities that benefit children in the New River Valley. Purchase kits at either Nest Realty or Kent Jewelers (250 S. Main, Blacksburg.) Entries are returned to Kent Jewelers. They remain on display in the Kent Square lobby for three weeks before Christmas while public voting occurs. Last year nearly 100 kits were purchased, however, there were fewer than 20 entrants. There are no trophies or medals, but consider this: In 2020, $2,000 was received, and Nest Realty matched that for a total of $4,000 donated to children’s charities. Now that’s a winner!

Kits = $20; voting tickets = $1; winner’s fame and adulation = Priceless!