The history of gingerbread began in antiquity. A first written reference to gingerbread is found at the time of the Egyptians: A bread baked with aromatic herbs and some spices, then coated with honey.
According to the mythology of the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and Teutons, honey was a gift from the gods. The Bible also speaks of the “promised land flowing with milk and honey.” This explains why in ancient times, honey was attributed to a divine gift for its curative and invigorating effects.
In ancient times there are several references to a bread sweetened with honey. The Greek Aristophanes mentions "melitounta" made from flour, sesame and coated with honey. The Romans call it "panis mellitus", fried bread drizzled with honey, however these were only precursors to today's gingerbread.
Then an Asian birth
The one that comes closest and which certainly forms the basis of our contemporary gingerbread, is a Chinese honeybread, enhanced with spices and aromatic plants. It served as a ration for Chinese soldiers in the Middle Ages. It was developed in China in the 10th century for the emperors of the Tang Dynasty. We find mention in texts from the 13th century citing this bread as part of the war rations of the horsemen of Genghis Khan who spread it among the Arabs. It would be called “Mi-kong”
And a European monastic diffusion
During the Crusades of the 12th and 13th centuries, Europeans discovered it in turn. They bring the recipe and the spices back to their respective kingdoms. It is especially in Germany, in the cities of Ulm, Munich and particularly Nuremberg that gingerbread has become established over the long term. We will see the appearance of “gingerbreads”, a true master pastry chef of gingerbread. A whole range of know-how highlighted and above all the ability to find the spices necessary for making gingerbread.
A first mention of “Lebkuchen”, gingerbread in German, was made in Ulm in 1296 and then it spread to the monasteries of the Holy Roman Empire: Munich, Aachen, Basel, Augsburg and Nuremberg where it is mentioned in 1395.
This bread will quickly conquer the monks. Thus through monastic networks, in particular through Cistercian monks, gingerbread spread throughout Europe little by little. Each region will evolve the recipes (depending on the spices chosen and especially those available)
In 1453 we found gingerbread on the Christmas tables of Cistercian monks in Alsace.
It then took human form (which we still find on our tables today). The first master gingerbread pastry chefs were established in Reims in the 14th century.
Around twenty “grocer’s bread” masters officiated there, they were the most renowned in the Kingdom. The archbishop's bailiff even granted them corporate statutes in 1571, officially recognized in 1596 by Henri IV!
Likewise in Alsace, a little later during the Renaissance, the "Lebküchler" (grocer's bread) founded their own corporation whose emblem represented a pretzel bear. Noble wooden molds from the 16th century finely carved with magnificent scenes have been preserved and testify to the luxury surrounding this commodity. Indeed, spices were overpriced at that time.