Traditional gingerbreads

Traditional gingerbreads

Editorial board

In 1996, the publication Medovníky [Gingerbreads] by Anna Chlupová, applying in particular the experience of her mother Jozefína Ralbovská, master of folk art production and teacher of gingerbread making. The publication provided a wide range of recipes for gingerbread dough, filling, icing and drink, but did not focus on the production of gingerbreads pressed into a mould. Today, ÚĽUV is publishing in the same series a book entitled Tradičné medovníky [Traditional gingerbreads] by Diana Némethová, which gives reader a more rounded-off image of the tradition of gingerbread baking in Slovakia and their origins. In the publication, the author emphasises the fact that gingerbread as we know it today are the result of contemporary culinary practices using modern cookery processes and means. The author provides readers with recipes for making pressed gingerbread, as well as those which have been tried and tested by contemporary gingerbread-makers. The book also contains several pages of patterns for decorating gingerbread with egg white icing, based on traditional folk motifs. Perhaps the most interesting part of this slim but informative publication is the part which describes to readers traditions from other countries: Germany, Scandinavia and Russia.

ÚĽUV