Today, June 5, 2014, is National Gingerbread Day. Gingerbread is a sweet food-product flavored with ginger and typically using honey or molasses rather than just sugar. Gingerbread foods vary, ranging from a soft, moist loaf cake to something close to a ginger biscuit. Gingerbread was brought to Europe in 992 by the Armenian monk Gregory of Nicopolis. During the 13th century, gingerbread was brought to Sweden by German immigrants. In 15th century Germany, a gingerbread guild controlled production. The first documented trade of gingerbread biscuits dates to the 17th century, where they were sold in monasteries, pharmacies and town square farmers' markets. In Medieval England gingerbread was thought to have medicinal properties.
