Editing Gingerbread (section)

==History==
[[File:CrispyGingerbreadCookies.jpg|thumb|[[Gingerbread man|Gingerbread men]]]]
[[File:02014 Die traditionelle Adventkirmes in Sanok.JPG|thumbnail|Gingerbread with [[royal icing]]]]
Gingerbread is claimed to have been brought to Europe in 992 AD by the [[Armenians|Armenian]] monk Gregory of Nicopolis (also called Gregory Makar and Grégoire de Nicopolis). He left [[Nicopolis]] (in modern-day western Greece) to live in [[Bondaroy]] (north-central France), near the town of [[Pithiviers]]. He stayed there for seven years until he died in 999 and taught gingerbread baking to French Christians.<ref>{{citation |title= A Dictionary of Miracles: Imitative, Realistic and Dogmatic" by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer}}</ref> It may have been brought to Western Europe from the eastern Mediterranean in the 11th century.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Fiegl|first=Amanda|title=A Brief History of Gingerbread|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/a-brief-history-of-gingerbread-50050265/|access-date=2020-12-20|website=Smithsonian Magazine}}</ref>

Since the 13th century, [[Torun gingerbread|Toruń gingerbread]] was made in Toruń, then [[State of the Teutonic Order]] (now [[Poland]]). It gained fame in the realm and abroad when it was brought to [[Sweden]] by German immigrants. In 15th-century Germany, a gingerbread [[guild]] controlled production.<ref>{{cite web |last=Anderson |first=L. V. |title=Why Do We Shape Gingerbread Cookies Like People? |url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/12/24/gingerbread_man_history_from_frederick_iii_to_elizabeth_i_to_l_frank_baum.html |department=Browbeat (blog) |work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |date=24 December 2013 |access-date=24 December 2013}}</ref> Early references from the [[Vadstena Abbey]] show that the Swedish [[nun]]s baked gingerbread to ease [[indigestion]] in 1444.<ref>{{cite web|title=Annas Pepparkakor : Pepparkakans historia|url=http://www.annas.se/artikel.asp?artikelId=34&strukturId=55|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100310035724/http://www.annas.se/artikel.asp?artikelId=34&strukturId=55|archive-date=2010-03-10|access-date=2009-11-11}}</ref> It was the custom to bake white biscuits and paint them as [[window]] decorations. In England, gingerbread was also thought to have medicinal properties.<ref>{{cite web|title=What is the history of gingerbread?|url=http://www.enotes.com/gingerbread-reference/gingerbread|publisher=[[eNotes]]}}</ref> 16th-century writer John Baret described gingerbread as "a kinde of cake or paste made to comfort the stomacke."<ref name=":0" />

Gingerbread was a popular treat at medieval European festivals and fairs, and there were even dedicated gingerbread fairs.<ref name=":0" />

The first documented trade of gingerbread biscuits in England dates to the 16th century,<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Gingerbread – Confectionary Chalet |url=https://www.confectionarychalet.com/history-of-gingerbread/ |access-date=2022-03-10 |language=en-US}}</ref> where they were sold in monasteries, pharmacies, and town square farmers' markets.  One hundred years later, the town of [[Market Drayton]] in Shropshire became known for its gingerbread, as is displayed on their town's welcome sign, stating that it is the "home of gingerbread". The first recorded mention of gingerbread being baked in the town dates to 1793, although it was probably made earlier, as ginger had been stocked in [[high street]] businesses since the 1640s. Gingerbread became widely available in the 18th century.

Gingerbread came to the Americas with settlers from Europe. [[Molasses]], less expensive than sugar, soon became a common ingredient and produced a softer cake.  The first printed American cookbook, ''[[American Cookery]]'' by Amelia Simmons, contained seven different recipes for gingerbread.<ref>{{Cite book|title=American cake : from colonial gingerbread to classic layer, the stories and recipes behind more than 125 of our best-loved cakes|last=Byrn, Anne|author-link=Anne Byrn|year=2016|isbn=9781623365431|pages=12–16|oclc=934884678}}</ref> Her recipe for "Soft gingerbread to be baked in pans" is the first written recipe for the cakey old-fashioned American gingerbread.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Wilson |first=Mary Tolford |title=Amelia Simmons Fills a Need: American Cookery, 1796 |journal=The William and Mary Quarterly |volume=14 |issue=1 |date=1957 |pages=16–30 |doi=10.2307/1917369 |jstor=1917369}}</ref>