The history of gingerbread in Russia has more than one hundred years. These delicacies are loved by adults and children. They are different: honey, with cinnamon, mint, chocolate and, of course, Tula. Production technology remains the same. Gingerbread is considered a Russian confectionery, part of the country's cultural heritage. Many are interested: how did this treat come about?
Where did the gingerbreads come from in Russia?
History does not answer this question. It is impossible to say for sure, but there is a legend that the Vikings brought them to us. They supposedly taught the Slavs how to cook delicious honey cakes, which later acquired a form familiar to every resident of Russia. Initially, the dough for them was prepared from rye flour and honey, which is baked? received honey bread.
But this version is not confirmed by anything. Slavic tribes living in Russia grew rye and engaged in storing - collecting honey from wild bees. Therefore, we can assume that this delicacy was not imported from somewhere. From ancient times it was prepared by the ancestors of the Russian people.
Gingerbread cookies in Russia
According to the official history of origin, gingerbread cookies appeared on the territory of Russia in the 9th century. The preparation recipe included: rye flour, honey and wild berry juice. The most significant ingredient in quantity was honey; it amounted to almost half of the total volume. Each city had its own special recipe. Over time, various useful herbs began to be added to the gingerbread cookies. They were considered healing. After the bath and with hot tea, they really benefited.
The history of the appearance of gingerbread in Russia includes the period of import of exotic spices from India and the East, they began to be added to the dough. Here, the bakers, who were called gingerbread at the time, had a large field for choice. They added spices that are hard to imagine today in sweet pastries. It was dill, black pepper, caraway seeds. It is more understandable for a modern person to add anise, vanilla, cinnamon, lemon, mint, cloves or ginger to this confectionery. All of these ingredients were also added to the dough.
The origin of the word "gingerbread"
In all likelihood, this confectionery got its name from the word “spice”, which came from the old Russian “peppery” - “pepper”. Gingerbread - this is the original designation of peppered cookies or cookies with spices.
Kinds
History has preserved information that from the 17th to the 19th centuries there were crafts for their manufacture. The composition and technology were kept in the strictest confidence. This delicacy was available to all classes. They decorated the tables of kings and peasants. Their consumption has become a tradition associated with the life of people. In total, there are three types of refreshments, depending on how it was produced: stucco, print, punch, or carved, gingerbread. The name was based on the manufacturing principle, but the products could have a different composition of the test. The history of the occurrence of gingerbread has several periods, in each of which there was a certain type of treat. Let's consider each of them.
Molded
It was made in the form of birds, animals, fish, people. Gingerbread is often molded in the form of a house. This species appeared even in pagan Russia, when instead of animals and birds sacrificed to the gods products molded from dough. Originally molded gingerbreads were of cult significance and were used in religious celebrations. Gradually, they began to use them as a treat at household holidays: weddings, name days.
The history of gingerbread in Russia began with the stucco, which came from pagan Russia. Today it is very rare to meet them, as they are baked in the northern regions of Russia. The gingerbread cookies looked like a stucco clay toy and were called “roe”, “teter”, “vitushka”. The latter were made from thin flagella of dough, woven into unique intricate patterns. For mass use, other types of gingerbread were made, as they made it possible to bake more sweet treats.
Printed
It was prepared using a gingerbread board, in which a special impression was hollowed out, decorated with ornaments, flowers, images of people and animals, as well as various inscriptions. In the history of Russian gingerbread, this is the most beautiful. In addition, there were special devices in the form of a rolling pin, on which the drawings were cut, after applying them to the dough, each carrot was cut with a sharp knife.
Sometimes gingerbread cookies were a real work of art. They were applied to drawings of Russian fairy tales, epics, small scenes of urban or rural life. The beauty of the gingerbread largely depended on the master who made the gingerbread. The specialists making them were called the denominators. Printed boards were from certain tree species: linden, birch, maple, and walnut.
They were piece and type-setting. The first were used to make large gingerbread in a single copy. As a rule, these were “tray” treats that were intended for gifts. Typesetting boards consisted of many small cookie cutters, which made it possible to immediately receive a large number of goodies. Preserved large gingerbread cookies, consisting of 120 small molds.
Cut or cut
For its preparation, a special template was used, which was applied to the rolled dough and cut its silhouette. This is a later type of gingerbread. It appeared in the middle of the XIX century. The first mention dates back to 1850. The manufacture of this type of gingerbread was marked by the transition to mass production.
Diversity
In each region, their own special gingerbread was baked, to which various combinations of additives were added: from overseas spices to berries and herbs growing in Russia. Gradually, he became not only tasty, but also a painted delicacy. To give it a beautiful golden color, it was mixed with burnt sugar. The crushed dry berries of raspberries or cranberries gave pink color. From above they were doused with glaze and beautiful patterns were applied. These gingerbread cookies were called pouring. Gingerbread cookies were given on name days, church holidays, celebrations.
There are more than 20 types of products baked in different places. In Arkhangelsk - roe, in Tula, Perm and Ryazan - Tula, in Vyazma, Kolomna, Kaluga - Vyazma, in Kursk, Novgorod - native, in Moscow - Moscow honey. The history of gingerbread in Russia is a component of culture. These products were present in all spheres of life: celebrations, holidays, life, folk art.
Mass production
By the end of the 19th century, gingerbread production was an enterprise that made it possible to satisfy the need for them not only in a certain locality, but also in neighboring regions. They were taken abroad, where they were popular. The owner of the gingerbread factory Ivan Popov had specialized Russian gingerbread stores in Paris, Berlin and London.
Baking the product was more of a hereditary affair; secrets were passed down from generation to generation. Some gingerbread dynasties existed for several hundred years. There were the titles "master" and "apprentice", to get them, you had to pass a difficult exam, which was attended by experienced experts in their field.
Tula gingerbread
This delicacy is the most famous in Russia. The history of the origin of the Tula gingerbread dates back more than 300 years. The expositions of many museums preserved ancient printed boards, which are applied various patterns and inscriptions. They belong to the XVII-XVIII centuries. In Tula, mint, honey, elegant printed gingerbread with various fillings of berries were baked. In addition, there were made small, without drawings, zhamki, which were accessible to all segments of the population.
The fame of the Tula gingerbreads brought their trade in many Russian cities. In Moscow and St. Petersburg, shops and shops were opened, in which they sold tasty treats from Tula. The city hosted fairs at which Tula bakers exhibited their products. The most famous was held on the tenth Friday after Easter.
A great variety of gingerbreads were sold: vanilla, raspberry, almond, chocolate. Their shape was different: round, rectangular, curly, typesetting, rugs, divided into lobes. The most expensive were the gingerbread cookies in smart tin boxes. They were made at the confectioner Grechikhin factory.
Russian gingerbread cookies were famous not only in Russia. At the famous Nizhny Novgorod Fair, which attracted merchants from many countries, mostly from China, India, Iran, Turkey and Afghanistan, Tula gingerbreads were in demand.