Gingerbread

Gingerbread is a sweet food-product flavored with ginger and typically using honey or molasses (treacle) rather than sugar. Gingerbread foods vary, ranging from a soft, moist loaf cake to something close to a ginger biscuit. The different types likely share a common origin.

Etymology

Originally, the term gingerbread (from Latin zingiber via Old French gingebras) referred to preserved ginger. It then referred to a confection made with honey and spices. Gingerbread is often used to translate the French term pain d'épices (literally "spice bread") or the German term Lebkuchen or Pfefferkuchen (pepperbread, literally: pepper cake). The term Leb(en) is unspecified in the German language. It can mean Leben (life) or Laib (loaf), while the last term comes from the wide range of spices used in this product.

History

Gingerbread was brought to Europe in 992 by the Armenian monk Gregory of Nicopolis (Gregory Makar) (Grégoire de Nicopolis). He left Nicopolis Pompeii, to live in Bondaroy (France), near the town of Pithiviers. He stayed there for seven years, and taught gingerbread baking to French Christians. He died in 999.

Ginger Bread (song)

"Ginger Bread" is a song written by Clint Ballard, Jr. and Hank Hunter and performed by Frankie Avalon. The song reached #9 on the Billboard Top 100, #10 on the R&B chart, and #30 in the UK in 1958.

The song was arranged by Peter De Angelis. The backing vocals on the song was by the band The Four Dates.

The song was ranked #100 on Billboard magazine's Top Hot 100 songs of 1958.

Other versions

References