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Surprising Origins of the Gingerbread House

Gozde Karamanoglu
3 min readJan 4, 2022

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Ginger, Gingerbread, Gingerbread House

Photo on Pexels by Ksenia

A Brief History on Ginger

Today, we are all familiar with the word Ginger — a commonly used spice that is known to treat nausea, other stomach problems and indigestion. But where did ginger come from?

Ginger root was being used in Ancient China and India as a medical treatment, which later was brought to Europe via the Silk Road.

In Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-European language of India, ginger root was known as srigavera — root shaped like a horn — due to its strange appearance.

Ginger was used to disguise the taste of preserved meats in the Middle Ages. It is rumored Henry VII added ginger to his diet as an ailment against the plague at the time.

Photo on Pexels by Joris Neyt

Evolution of Gingerbread

Actually, the first-known Gingerbread recipe was discovered in Ancient Greece around 2400 BC.

All Chinese recipes known today were created in the 10th century.

Gingerbread used to mean just “preserved ginger” in Medieval England. Today, it refers to a variety of desserts made from ginger, honey…

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Gozde Karamanoglu
Gozde Karamanoglu

Written by Gozde Karamanoglu

I enjoy writing about personal stories, interesting tidbits and hobbies that are informative, entertaining and just plain funny at times.

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