5 Things You Might Not Know About Gingerbread (2024)

5. The iconic gingerbread house from Hansel and Gretel was not made of gingerbread

Gingerbread houses likely originated in Germany between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, spreading to England at some stage in the nineteenth century. In Thomas Hardy’s novel ‘Jude the Obscure’ (1896), the character of Jude Fawley builds gingerbread houses, known as ‘Christminster Cakes’, complete with ‘traceried windows, and cloisters’.

In the popular myth of Hansel and Gretel, the witch lures the unfortunate children into captivity with her irresistible cottage made of gingerbread covered with sweets. However, the original Grimm’s fairy tale describes a house made from bread, with a cake roof and sugar windows but modern retellings increase the sugary temptation by upgrading mere bread to gingerbread.