HONEY GINGERBREAD “Les Saveurs du Clavon”

Old-fashioned gingerbread bar. Enhanced with pearl sugars and composed of 25% honey, this gingerbread will delight your taste buds. Gingerbread is a honey cake, decorated with various spices such as cinnamon, coriander, ginger or star anise. Alain Rey in his "Historical Dictionary of the French Language" reports the first appearance of "pain d'espessez" in 1372 and that of "pain d'épines" in 1530. Our next jump is to the Middle Ages to continue. It was during the crusades of the 15th century that the recipe was discovered in the West. Germany was the first to welcome gingerbread, the first mention of which was made in the city of Ulm in 1296 and then spread to certain Germanic monasteries of the time. Other mentions were mentioned in the cities of Munich, Nuremberg, Basel and Augsburg where the creators of gingerbread, also called gingerbreads (“Lebzelters” in German) paid taxes as early as 1370. Then it would be from 1453 that the famous rolls began to appear on the Christmas tables of Cistercian monks in Alsace. At that time, gingerbread was given a human form. The first master pastry chefs specializing in the food had previously established themselves in Reims in the 14th century. Their recipe? Quite simply, a gingerbread made from rye flour and a good taste of honey, all spiced up with spices. From there, a community of renowned gingerbread makers or even gingerbread pastry chefs was formed in this town. Their monopoly was officially recognized by Henri IV in 1596.