Gingerbread Houses? Thank Hansel and Gretel

When European explorers came back from the Middle East with ginger and other spices in the 11th century, ginger cookies and cakes quickly became popular. Decorated cookies carved into elaborate shapes were soon featured at fairs and other gatherings. There were even guilds of people specially certified to bake ginger treats.

The Brothers Grimm get credit for bringing fame to the gingerbread house when they wrote Hansel and Gretel. By the nineteenth century, elaborate gingerbread houses were being adorned with candy roofs and sugar icicles across Germany and North America.

In fact, the tradition of baking and decorating gingerbread houses is now more prominent across the U.S. than it is in Germany, as many immigrants arrived and passed on the popular tradition.