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
Never ever heard of that. I’m from austria, so I’m only familiar with Lebkuchen, but it is similar. Some pointed out that there are Bavarian recipes that do that, but as said, never heard of that.
But, what you do is that when you bake Lebkuchen, they tend to be very hard. Especially in times before Electric Ovens. Inorder to get it softer, you leave them for a while (fully baked!) In a box, and wait for the air humidity to soften it. Unlike other cookies (Kekse), they get better after a while instead of worse.
This is also regularly made in a quick way, where you keep an apple that you cut in half within that box too (the apple has to be changed daily/every two days so it doesn’t grow moldy and should not touch the Lebkuchen). That way they get softer a lot faster and the apple leaves a slight aroma (only very subtly, but noticeable)
It’s a bit more complex than that. Not all the ingredients are mixed into the base dough, just honey, flour and the spices. Usually made in June. Goal is for the spices and flavours to develop. Cool, dark & dry place for storage, like a basement. after 5-6 months, the leavening agents are dissolved in water and worked into the dough before the rolling out and shaping take place. You’re correct on the spoilage, the enzymes in the honey prevent the dough from turning sour.
In Denmark we make honeycake hearts, that is made with a pre dough. The pre dough consist of only honey and flour that is left in a dark and cool place for up to a month. It functions as levening and development of flavor. It is then mixed with Christmas spices and flour and baked in heart shape. When cool it is decorated with melted chocolate and sugar pictures..
Not all ginger bread recipes call for this. It is common in Germany and some Norwegian recipes. But regardless of whether it should mature or not, ginger bread dough can often go long without spoiling. This is because it has a high fat and sugar content, and while sugar *is* food for microorganisms they also need water to live at all. It’s the same reason dried meat keeps so well. The food is there, but not the water.
I can’t say for certain that the spices don’t have anything to do with it, but I don’t think the honey has. It would be too diluted.
When foods mature it is generally for a couple of reasons: harsh flavors mellow out because certain aromatic compounds escape. The flavors may also meld and disperse more evenly. There is some microbial activity which creates new aromatic compounds. A lot of microbial activity can spoil the food, but a little bit is completely safe and healthy and gives great flavor.
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.
I guess I’m pretty late to the party, but in the Czech Republic, the traditional gingerbread is made from aged dough. This guy bakes gingerbread for a living (article in Czech, usable with Google translate, I guess):
https://www.seznamzpravy.cz/clanek/magazin-testo-zraje-vetsinou-pul-roku-jedno-mam-ale-stare-deset-let-rika-pernikar-202745
Basically he says that for commercial production, the dough ages 4-6 months. But it’s a tradition that when a gingerbread-baker’s daughter is born, they make dough for wedding gingerbread, so the dough can easily be 20+ years old when the daughter gets married.
When we make it at home, few days of aging is sufficient, although overnight can be enough if you’re in a rush.
Some recipes are geared for it some are not. Most modern ones wont be due to changing tastes, time, and lost traditions.
Many of these aged recipes count on the complex interactions happening inside the dough to create multiple layers of complex and myriad flavors. Most of the old recipes seem very very dry compared to modern cookie doughs, and because it was common knowledge at the time, many don’t mention that you mix in more liquids before rolling and baking. By being on the dry side you significantly reduce the possibility of bad things happening inside the dough. Most of them also use higher acid or base ingredients to further skew the dough away from bad things happening.
Sugars of any type, be it plain white sugar, honey, molasses, etc etc function as a preservative in some conditions. Those conditions being generally dependent on the liquid content that is present. Mix a pound of sugar in 10 gallons of water then leave it exposed to air and you will have fermentation of some kind fairly quickly. Mix a gallon of water in 10 pounds of sugar and you will have fermentation as well, but it will take a lot longer due to the overly hostile environment the sugar creates. There was an experiment run a while back about preserving milk at room temp, it was found a small amount of sugar added to a gallon of milk will actually give you an extra day or two before it goes bad. No I don’t remember the exact reference but its out there.
Controlled fermentation and/or rot brings some of the most delicious foods to your senses. A 60 day dry aged steak is not for the faint of heart, but on a completely different level of flavor. Fermented garlic sauce, I wouldn’t eat it straight, but it adds umami to dishes that can’t be matched by anything unfermented. I do not enjoy lactic fermented items like sauerkraut but many people do and its a common ingredient. Most Worcestershire sauces contains anchovies that are part of fermentation process as that is the original way to make it. Worcestershire sauce is also relatively tame compared to some of the fermented sauces out there.
A good rule of thumb one of my chefs taught me is look at the ingredients. Are they shelf stable? as in room temp stable for lengths of time? then yes its probably geared for storage. Got things like eggs and dairy in it? then probably not meant for long term maturation and storage.
I myself have a ginger/molasses cookie recipe from late colonial era that you mix up most of the ingredients then store for 4-6 months in a cool dark dry place. Then when your about to bake; you mix in the chemical leaveners , add some more liquid, roll thin, then bake. The finished cookies are shelf stable and when properly stored in airtight containers they will last for 9 months. Though I have fudged it a bit by simply re-baking them for a minute or two so they crisp up.
Is any of it food safe according to your local governing bodies? probably not. But I will take good flavor over food safety any day of the week. Please don’t think I am unaware of the dangers, I am well versed in the dangers of the kitchen. Taking uneducated risks is vastly different from educated risks.
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