December 2
Gingerbread
Ginger has become associated with Christmas, some countries enjoy ginger biscuits with mulled wine, some people make Christmas tree decorations out of gingerbread, and in our family we make gingerbread men (and women, girls and boys, you'll be glad to know). Gingerbread houses have also become quite a popular tradition at Christmas in many countries worldwide, you can even buy kits for making them and decorating them and they're fun to do. Of course, the tradition of gingerbread houses isn't English, it has its roots in 16th century Germany, but gingerbread itself was made in Tudor England.
In his The English Housewife, Gervase Markham shared the following recipe:
“To make coarse gingerbread, take a quart of honey and set in on the coals and refine it: then take a pennyworth of ginger, as much pepper, as much liquorice; and a quarter of a pound of aniseeds, and a pennyworth of sanders: all these must be beaten and searced, and so put into the honey: then put in a quarter of a pint of claret wine or old ale: then take three penny manchets finely grated and strew it amongst the rest, and stir it till it come to a stiff paste, and then make it into cakes and dry them gently.”
As you can see, Markham's gingerbread was made using grated “manchets”, a quality bread eaten by the upper classes, mixed to a paste with honey, wine or ale, and spices, and then shaped into “cakes” and dried. I really liked the sound of Tudor-style gingerbread, as I love ginger, so I thought I'd have a go. Here is a video I did for the Anne Boleyn Files YouTube channel, for my “Tudor Cooking with Claire” playlist.
And here's the list of ingredients:
- 14 slices (approx 340g) of brown bread, made into crumbs
- 300g runny honey
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground pepper (black or white)
- Pinch of saffron (optional)
- Red wine (optional)
- Red food colouring (optional)
- Star anise and liquorice (optional)
After filming, I let the ginger bread 'rest' for a couple of hours and this made it dry out a little and be less sticky. We all really liked it and the spices are so warming.
If you'd like to try making a gingerbread house, there is a recipe and instructions at
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4900/simple-gingerbread-house
You can find a recipe for gingerbread men at
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/gingerbread_men_99096