I made an old fashioned gingerbread loaf yesterday. I love the molasses and warm spices in gingerbread! It is simply delicious!
And what goes better with gingerbread and a coffee or perhaps tea? The food history of gingerbread! Let me share with you a little of what I’ve learned about one of my holiday favorites!
In Medieval England, the term gingerbread simply meant “preserved ginger” until the 1400’s when “gingerbread” referred to a sweet treat that combined ginger with honey, treacle or molasses.
Gingerbread dates back to around 2400BC. By the Middle Ages, Europeans had their own version of gingerbread. Queen Elizabeth 1 is credited with decorating shaped gingerbread cookies with gold leaf to resemble dignitaries visiting her court. Gingerbread houses became popular in Germany in the 1500’s. All of this gingerbread was quite hard and crunchy, similar to hardtack. But by the 1600’s, gingerbread began to change. Treacle replaced honey and flour replaced grated breadcrumbs resulting in a different type of gingerbread!
Gingerbread in the late 1700’s was more cake-like and soft rather than a crunchy biscuit-like cookie from earlier times. George Washington’s mother baked a softer cake version in 1784 that became popular of that time.
American Cookery by Amelia Simmons, 1796, has recipes for three types of gingerbread including the soft variety baked in loaves, like this one:
Soft gingerbread to be baked in pans.
No. 2. Rub three pounds of sugar, two pounds of butter, into four pounds of flour, add 20 eggs, 4 ounces ginger, 4 spoons rosewater, bake as No. 1.
I’m not sure about rosewater or adding orange juice, brandy or raisins to my gingerbread though I suspect it would be more like a dark fruitcake in taste.
This particular loaf is quite an old fashioned quick bread and tastes like a gingerbread cookie. This old fashioned recipe dates back to the 1800’s. Gingerbread of the 1800s was often made rather spicy to help soothe the tummy which was a common ailment in that time period due to their rich, heavy diet. Treacle and molasses contains magnesium and potassium along with prebiotic properties which was thought to increase saliva production, aiding in digestion as well as drawing water into the guts, improving bowel movements. Similarly, the warming spices in gingerbread were thought to have similar effects along with reducing inflammation thereby decreasing nausea or alleviating an upset stomach as well as aiding in digestion by increasing saliva and bile production, improving gut motility and decreasing gas. Gingerbread or a spoon of molasses was often consumed after a meal for these reasons.
I love gingerbread simply because it’s tasty. I enjoy the flavor of molasses with warming spices of cinnamon and ginger around the holidays. it’s cozy and nostalgic.
This is what gingerbread was actually like before gingerbread became known as a cookie. We have reduced the spice some, but it still tastes wonderful!
Let’s get started!
Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Beat in the eggs and vanilla.
Add baking soda, salt and spices. Stir well.
Combine the molasses with the hot water.
Alternate flour and water mixture. Mix well. Always end with flour; it’ll help bring the batter together.
Grease a loaf pan and pour the batter in.
Bake at 350F for one hour, covering lightly with foil if it begins to brown too much. Let cool 5 minutes in the pan before carefully removing from the pan and placing on cooling rack. Let cool completely.
Dust with icing sugar before slicing.
This loaf is a strong, hearty gingerbread and simply delicious!
Old Fashioned Gingerbread Loaf
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup hot water
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp salt
Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Add baking soda, salt and spices. Stir well. Combine the molasses with the hot water. Alternate flour and water mixture. Mix well. Always end with flour; it’ll help bring the batter together. Grease a loaf pan and pour the batter in. Bake at 350F for one hour, covering lightly with foil. Dust with icing sugar before slicing.
