First Catch Your Gingerbread

Within the stomach, loins, and in the lung
Praise of hot ginger rightly may be sung.
It quenches thirst, revives, excites the brain
And in old age awakes young love again.
From the Regimen sanitatis Salernitanum

This book offers a culinary history of ginger in its most popular use as a flavouring for baked goods —mostly focusing on its reception and exploitation in the British Isles with forays abroad — from ancient times down to the present day. It is also a compendium of delicious gingerbread and ginger cake recipes that bring the story of this spicy and much loved treat to life.