✍ Torun, Poland 25 Jan 2020. I long loved gingerbread but it's only at age 59 that I found out how gingerbread should really taste like when I had it in Torun, Poland ๐ It's also just now that I learned that the tasty bread / biscuit and Christmas tradition has such a rich history and connection with Asia.
Torun, a Mediaeval town northwest of Warsaw by the Vistula River was founded by the Teutonic Knights around the 1230s. We can still visit the ruins of the Teutonic Knights castle which was mostly demolished during the peasant rebellion of 1454.
Torun was fortunately spared destruction during the Second World War (1939-1945) which saw many Polish cities like Warsaw left almost completely in ruins.
The 13th century Leaning Tower of Torun - legend has it that a Teutonic knight was ordered to build the tower as punishment for falling in love with a lady (which was against the monastic rule of the Order). He was ordered to build a leaning tower which reflected his crooked ways. The real reason is the shifting soft ground under the building caused it to tilt.
It was a son of Torun, Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 - 1543) who moved the Earth from the centre of the Universe and made it orbit around the sun. Copernicus's family home, now a museum dedicated to the father of modern astronomy, is open to the public.
Torun even has a museum dedicated to gingerbread, the only one in the world. The heritage building repurposed into the Museum of Torun Gingerbread used to be the Kopernik bakery founded in 1763 - Kopernik is still one of Torun's top gingerbread bakers today.
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Ginger, the key ingredient of gingerbread originated in today's Indonesia. It was sought after for its flavour, medicinal and preservation properties. Ginger spread to China and westwards to India and the Middle East. Central and Western Europeans first encountered ginger (and other Asian spices) during the Crusades from the 11th to the 13th centuries.
It was the Teutonic Knights of Torun who first brought spices from the Middle East to Torun in the 1230s. Since the Middle Ages, Torun combined Western bread making with Asian, Indian and Middle Eastern spices to make the best gingerbread that is still unrivalled today.
Photo credit: Wikipedia
Traditional gingerbread moulds made of applewood or pear wood were extremely intricate and an art form in itself.
In the past, only the very rich and royalty can taste Torun gingerbread because exotic spices were so expensive. Foreign royalty and dignitaries visiting Torun were presented with Torun gingerbread as prized gifts.
An often cited 17th century Polish poem lists Toruล gingerbread, Gdaลsk vodka, Krakow ladies and Warsaw ankle boots as the best things in Poland.
Photo credit: Wikipedia Chopin Catherine
Polish composer Chopin after a visit to Torun said gingerbread left a deeper impression on him than all the city's beautiful architecture. Tsarina Katherine the Great was gifted a 2 metre long gingerbread by the city. Other Torun gingerbread fans include Napoleon, Copernicus, Pope John Paul II etc.
The love of gingerbread spread throughout Europe. Queen Elizabeth the First of England (reign 1558 to 1603) was a big fan who treated visiting dignitaries to gingerbread shaped like her esteemed guests. So was William Shakespeare who said he would spend his last penny on gingerbread.
The witch tried to fatten Hansel before eating him. Gretel saved her brother by pushing the witch into the oven, killing her, and ran away with their lives and the witch's treasures.
In Torun today, anyone can enjoy gingerbread and even make it at home ourselves, whole year round.
We learned how to make Torun gingerbread by hand at Torun's gingerbread museum or Muzeum Piernika.
Torun gingerbread mixes wheat and rye flour with honey and exotic spices such as cinnamon, cardamon, nutmeg, aniseed, cloves, ginger (of course), pepper, cumin, allspice, coriander etc plus a dose of vodka (of course, again).
The Polish word for gingerbread is "piernika" which means peppery. Every gingerbread bakery have their closely guarded, secret blend of spices.
These are kneaded and rolled together to make a brownish colour spiced dough. The spiced dough are aged like fine wine for up to a year to let the exquisite flavours and aromas emerge and mell.
The dough is rolled and pressed into moulds - there are many elaborate patterns, I chose the traditional gingerbread man ๐
Our gingerbread are ready for the oven ๐
My own gingerbread man ๐บ
Some gingerbread hearts are decorated with intricate colourful designs by expert craftsmen with icing sugar.
Recommended for you ๐ When you come to Poland, you must at least taste the world's best gingerbread. Or, you can do even better by heading to Torun to learn how to make it yourself from master craftsmen at Torun's gingerbread museum ๐
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Museum of Torun Gingerbread
Address: Rabiaลska 9, 87-100 Toruล, Poland
GPS: 53°00'31.5"N 18°36'17.2"E ๐ 53.008749, 18.604765
Tel: +48 56 663 66 17
Hours: 10:00am - 6:00pm
Date visited: 3 Dec 2019
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