The Gingerbread House Became Popular After What Fairy Tale?

National Gingerbread Cookie Day on November 21st encourages us to grab the rolling pin and cookie cutters. The baking will warm the home and decorating will inspire us to design tasty cookies while making memories!

• 992 AD – A favorite food of an Armenian monk, Gregory of Nicopolis, brought gingerbread to Europe around 992 AD and taught French Christians to bake it.
• 11th Century – It is believed gingerbread was first baked in Europe at the end of the 11th century when returning crusaders brought back the custom of spicy bread from the Middle East. Ginger was not only tasty, it had properties that helped preserve the bread.
• 13th Century – In the Polish city of Torun, gingerbread began to be produced and quickly gained fame in the country and abroad, it was then brought to Sweden by German immigrants.
• 16th Century – Queen Elizabeth has gingerbread men made. As gifts given out at a celebration, the queen has gingerbread made into men that resemble the guests of the party
• 16th Century – People decorate gingerbread houses with foil and gold leaves.
• 17th Century – The first documented trade of gingerbread biscuits in England dates to the 17th century, when they were sold in monasteries, pharmacies, and town square farmers’ markets. In England, gingerbread was thought to have medicinal properties.
• 1805 – First recorded mention of ginger snaps.
• 1812 – The “gingerbread house” became popular in Germany after the Brothers Grimm published Hansel and Gretel in the 19th century.
• 1875 – The Gingerbread Boy was a story that appeared in St. Nicholas Magazine in 1875.
• 1930s – The tradition of leaving cookies and milk out for Santa Claus begins.
• 2009 – Weighing over 1400 pounds, the world’s largest gingerbread man cookie is made in Oslo, Norway by the staff of an IKEA store.
• 2013 – A club in Texas gets the Guinness World Record for having the world’s largest gingerbread house.
• 2019 – Hello! 100 Gingerbread Cookie Recipes: Best Gingerbread Cookbook Ever is written by Mr. Dessert.
• Gingerbread was often used in religious ceremonies and was baked to be sturdy as it was usually molded into images of saints.
• Gingerbread cookies also make sturdy walls for sweet houses and the day is just in time for some practice before National Gingerbread House Day on December 12th. Don’t forget to make those tasty gingerbread families that can be decorated by the children in your home.
• The ingredients that make gingerbread so special include molasses, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves. Brown sugar adds a little more sweetness and a crispness to the outer crust. Flour and butter combine to make a sturdy final product perfect for building your dream house.
• The first cookbook published in the US, American Cookery by Amelia Simmons, contained three different recipes for gingerbread.
• The term gingerbread is from the Latin term zingiber via old French gingebras,  meaning preserved ginger.
• Catholic monks used to make gingerbread in the shape of angels and saints
• A doctor once wrote a prescription for gingerbread to the Swedish King Hans to cure his depression.
• According to the Swedish tradition, you can put the gingerbread in your palm and make a wish. You then have to break the gingerbread with your other hand. If the gingerbread breaks into three, the wish will come true.
• Folk medicine practitioners created gingerbread men to help young women marry the man of their dreams. If she could get him to eat it, then it was believed he would fall madly in love with her.
• Nuremberg, Germany has the title, “Gingerbread Capital of the World”.

Sources:

National Day Calendar

Foodimentary

Easy Food

Mobile-Cuisine

Just Fun Facts

Days of the Year