Medieval gyngerbrede or gingerbread is more like candy than the modern cake with which we are familiar. It is one of the sweet treats mentioned in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales: “They fette hym first the sweete wyn, and mede eek in a mazelyn, and roial spicerye of gyngebreed that was ful fyn, and lycorys, and eek comyn, with sugre that is trye.”
MEDIEVAL GYNGERBREDE
Ingredients: 1 cup honey, loaf of bread made into bread crumbs, ¾ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon pepper, ¼ teaspoon ground ginger, cinnamon and sandalwood for coating
Directions: In saucepan, bring honey to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, skimming off surface. Remove from heat and add cinnamon, pepper, and ginger. To this mixture, add the bread crumbs 1 cup at a time. Mix thoroughly, kneading as necessary. Divide into four parts and roll out on wax paper. Cut into 1 inch squares. Dust with a mixture of 1 part cinnamon to 2 parts sandalwood to make it red and festive.
Yum! Now that sounds delicious! For some reason I can imagine eating this at fairs, as though it would have been a special treat. 🙂
Oh, me too! I love fairs and carnivals.
A gal after my own heart! The atmosphere conjured by a fair or carnival is so magical. It always feel like an escape into make-believe to me 🙂
Those carny people work hard. I’d like to feature a story around that sometime.