Medieval gingerbread

Try this historical recipe for a sweet

I love gingerbread. I love the cookie kind, the cakey kind, and everything in between. When I went to sleep away camp my favorite dessert was gingerbread cake slopped with whipped cream. It was the…

Medieval and Renaissance bakers' molds, used to make cakes and biscuits with a specific shape and/or decoration.

Not your mother’s gingerbread (but maybe your great 26 -grandmother’s). Candy-like confection with a lot of ginger flavor and an unfortunate gritty texture, but is still really nice

Whether it resembles a house or a human, modern gingerbread can come in elaborate forms. But it doesn't hold a candle to its far fancier medieval counterpart.

An autumn afternoon called for gingerbread so I consulted my recipe books to find something suitable. The first documented trade of gingerbread biscuits was in the sixteenth century, where they were sold in pharmacies, monasteries and town square farmers’ markets. Before that gingerbread was made of honey. A medieval recipe from 1430 in Jane Grigson’s … Continue reading "How to make Elizabethan Gingerbread. An easy recipe using breadcrumbs."

A recipe for Elizabethan gingerbread inspired by the second book, Shadow of Night, from the book series, A Discovery of Witches, by Deborah Harkness. Find this recipe and more on the blog.

The history of Medieval gingerbread, with both Medieval recipes and a modern redaction.

While gingerbread’s English name is derived from its distinctive flavour, its Polish name means ‘hot and spicy’ due to the large amount of pepper traditionally used in its spice mixture. The medieval city of Torun is renowned for the deeply aromatic biscuit that’s been made here since the 14th century. And appropriately for a place steeped in such history and intrigue, the biscuit's origin depends on who is telling the story.