December 12, 2023
Gingerbread has been delighting taste buds worldwide for centuries. Gingerbread likely came from the middle East or Asia, where people have been making it for over a thousand years. Legend has it that gingerbread arrived in Europe in the tenth century where a monk named Gregory Makar brought the recipe from Armenia to France.
As the treat became more popular throughout Europe, gingerbread shaping became an art form. People would carve a picture into a piece of wood and press dough into the mold, and their cookies would look like the picture.
After the Brothers Grimm wrote the story of Hansel and Gretal, Germans began to make gingerbread houses just like the one in the story. Later, when Germans immigrated to America, they brought this tradition along with them for many Americans as well.
Every winter, in the city of Bergen Norway, children ages eleven and under are invited to build an entire city of gingerbread. This magical display is called Pepperkakebyen, which means gingerbread town.
Candy architects can also participate in the National Gingerbread House Competition in Asheville, North Carolina. Contestants have gone way beyond houses, too, building castles, barns and birdhouses!
Vocabulary
architect – a person who designs buildings and directs their construction
- Doug worked with an architect to create his dream home.
connoisseur – a person who really understands and appreciates something, especially an art.
- The mushrooms had the chewy, savory flavor preferred by connoisseurs.
concoction – a mixture of different things someone has put together in a new way.
- A smoothie is a concoction of fruits, berries, and yogurt.
immigrate – to move to a country from another country
- He immigrated with his parents in 1895 and grew up on Long Island.
novelty – the quality of being new and unusual
- Flexible schedules, once a novelty, are now more common.