I was told that gingerbread batter should be left in the fridge to ripen for around a month, but preferably longer. What exactly happens when it matures, and why it doesn’t go bad?

Question

UPDATE:

People are either screwing with me (though I asked people who don’t know one another so it’s highly unlikely) and they consistently say that they either never heard of that or that it should be 3-4 weeks maturation time. Primarily because honey and some spices have antibacterial features, so it doesn’t go bad

In: 1305

Answer 1

What happens when it matures:

German gingerbread or Lebkuchen “ripes” for a month so the aroma can develop its basically fermenting.

For the why doesn’t it go bad:

The dough is sealed airtight in a cold place like an pantry or Speisekammer (in german) which is a small room and usually cold unlike an American pantry.

The dough then gets hard over the weeks. There is a german word for such dough: Lagerteig a stored dough (i quess hard to translate because its a noun).

Also honey is said to be antibacterial but I’m not 100% sure about that.

So all in all it’s a mixture between being stored airtight, without humidity, in a cold place and in metal/plastic bowls and probably the honey.

If that’s the case for I question American gingerbread i don’t know. But that would be my explanation.