Do we eat gingerbread cookies all year round? Not at all. It is special to Christmas. The ancient Greeks and Egyptians considered it special too - they used it for ceremonies.
Being a tropical plant, it came to Europe in the 11th century with the crusaders. But it wasn't applied to desserts until the 15th century. Elizabeth 1 is credited with the idea of decorating cookies - she had them made to resemble the dignitaries visiting her court. They became the highlight of Gingerbread Fairs.
The role of gingerbread cookies as a love token is shown in Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost:
"An I had but one penny in the world, thou shouldst have it to buy ginger-bread"
Somehow gingerbread men and gingerbread houses became a major tradition of Christmas - the gingerbread house is linked to the Hansel and Gretel story in 1812. Gingerbread men were made exclusively by gingerbread masters who kept their recipes secret and the cookies eventually became a staple of Christmas fairs.
Those times are past, and we happily all can make our own houses and gingerbread cookies. Get cracking!
There are dozens of gingerbread jokes:
When should you take a ginger bread cookie to the doctor? When it feels crummy.
What does the ginger bread man put on his bed? A cookie sheet.
Why do basketball players love gingerbread cookies? Because they can dunk them!
Today's picture is a close-up of a Gerbera flower.
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