Ginger became common on Medieval tables as both a condiment and a cure-all. As sugar became more readily available, it was used to make medicinal foods more palatable and ginger, which candies readily, became even more widespread in Europe.

Bruce Cost, whose book, "Ginger East to West," (Aris, 1984) tells the story of this widely traveled and fascinating ingredient, explains that the first gingerbreads were actually medicinal pastes, called gingerbrati, concocted by apothecaries from ginger and spices, honey and grated root vegetables. Later, breadcrumbs were used in place of the starchy vegetables. These pastes were called leaches or leches, meaning something that could be sliced, because they were formed into squares or loaves and sold in slices.

By the1450s, these pastes came to resemble candies — a, thick, sweet blend of honey, dried breadcrumbs, powdered ginger, cinnamon, pepper and saffron. (You can find an actual recipe at godecookery.com/ginger/ginger.htm).

Gingerbread jumped from the pharmacy to the bakery in the early 17th century when French and German bakers substituted flour and eggs for the breadcrumbs and began to make proper cakes, which grew steadily more elaborate, all the way to the gingerbread villages of today.

Gingerbread cakes, pressed into molds and baked, have been used as souvenirs of special events, as gifts for honored persons, even as greeting cards. England's Queen Elizabeth I is said to have invented the gingerbread "man" when she ordered her bakers to create gingerbread molds in the shape of those she favored, as a compliment. Food writer Waverly Root says ginger cookies were used to bribe voters in early Virginia.

Americans add sweet twist

The Americas contributed what is considered an essential ingredient in American-style gingerbread, whether for cookies or cakes: the use of molasses, a New World ingredient, in place of honey, golden syrup or sugar.

A number of gingerbread cousins — pain d'epice in France, speculaas in Holland, lebkuchen and springerle in Germany and leckerli in Switzerland — uses sugar or honey, but retain the tradition of being baked in molds or pressed into particular shapes and being associated with the holidays.

One scholar has speculated that springerle cookies (the name means "little jumper"), which are traditionally cut into horse shapes, date to a time when the expected annual gift to the chief of the early German gods, Wotan, was the sacrifice of a live horse. Poor people couldn't afford horses, so they gave horse-shaped cakes instead.

There are many such intriguing stories — however believable — associated with gingerbread, a food that, perhaps because of its purported medicinal qualities, seems to inspire myth and legend.

At some point, gingerbread began to walk two parallel roads. Those soft, sweet "leach" loaves of Medieval times gave birth to two traditions: soft, moist spice cakes and stiff, crisp molded or cut-out cookies.

In America, "gingerbread" may mean a tender but very forgiving style of quick bread, made with butter, sugar, eggs, molasses, baking soda and spices — the sort of thing a busy homemaker could toss off in a half-hour between chores. This bread or cake isn't much made today but was obviously a staple in the early and mid-20th century, judging by the number of recipes found in community cookbooks from the period, especially in the East, South and Midwest. The sweetness varies so that some gingerbread recipes almost are breakfast-type quick breads (which could be buttered, as in the aphorism at the beginning of this piece), while others are clearly desserts, but of the easy-to-make sort.

Holiday tradition

Gingerbread cookies are generally only made only at Christmas — most often for use in making gingerbread houses, or as gingerbread men.

Ironically, although Hawai'i is a source of highly prized fresh ginger, gingerbread doesn't do particularly well here. Our humid climate causes gingerbread cookies to quickly soften and spoil.

Brad Hull and his Kapi'olani Community College culinary students, have just completed construction of an internationally themed gingerbread village on display at the Outrigger Waikiki Hotel. "In Hawai'i, it's a daunting task to build only from gingerbread and have it last more than a few days," he said. They had to bake extra-thick pieces of gingerbread construction materials, cover the back of the cutouts with chocolate to make them stronger, and buttress the roof and walls with more pieces of gingerbread.

Over at Pacific Beach Hotel, pastry chef Ronald Viloria and his staff used 75 slabs of gingerbread, 800 cookies, 400 pounds of confectioners' sugar, 20 gallons of egg whites, 250 pounds of flour and 100 eggs to make a village that takes up nearly the entire lobby.

But if you don't want to go to that hassle, gingerbread kits are now available in local stores (Foodland, among them), complete with all the makings for a gingerbread tree or house for about $8-$10 — already baked gingerbread pieces, icing makings and sprinkles and other decorative pieces.

One caution: Be very sure NOT to put too much water into the icing mixture or it will be too soft and impossible to shape. Read directions carefully.